The University of Roehampton has announced it has extended its partnership with Santander Universities UK – the division of Santander which aims to support higher education – for three more years to enhance opportunities for students through internships, entrepreneur funding and study bursaries.

The new agreement will see the funding provided to the University of Roehampton from Santander’s Universities division pass the £1m milestone after the partnership’s first grant award in 2011. Significantly, the extension to the partnership highlights the University’s commitment to employer engagement within the local area and will help facilitate current and new relationships with more than 200 SMEs, charities and social enterprises.

Santander Universities, which aims to support students across the three key areas of education, entrepreneurship and employability, has benefited more than 600 University of Roehampton students since 2011, delivering over 80 PhD studentships and outward mobility bursaries, over 250 internships and helping to establish 24 new businesses. Hundreds more have also been able to take advantage of workshops and events to learn new skills and improve their employment aspects.

With employment opportunities for students disrupted during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, funding from the partnership has led to the launch of the University of Roehampton’s innovative Virtual Internship Scheme in May this year. The scheme has resulted so far in 54 student and graduate work opportunities which would have otherwise been unavailable in the current situation.

Professor Jean-Noël Ezingeard, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Roehampton, says: “The new partnership with Santander Universities is a fantastic initiative for our students and opens numerous doors to employment opportunities, a key extension to their learning experience at the University of Roehampton.

“We are extremely grateful to Santander Universities for their ongoing support over the past ten years as their funding has benefitted hundreds of our students so far, and now we can look forward to a further three years of this valuable and fruitful partnership.”

Matt Hutnell, Director, Santander Universities, says: “Santander is committed to supporting higher education as well as local communities across the UK. We are proud to continue our partnership with the University of Roehampton for a further three years and look forward to working together in providing even more opportunities which will benefit both students and the local community over the coming years.”