On October 23, 2019, the president of the University of Bremen, Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter, and Fernando Silva, member of the board of Santander Consumer Bank AG, renewed the partnership agreement in Bremen, which has been in place since 2013 and was last extended in 2016. This means that the partnership framework agreement has been extended for an indefinite period.
“The University of Bremen has been a valuable partner for us for many years, and we can count it as part of our worldwide university network,” says Fernando Silva. “I look forward to continuing to work with Santander. This will sustainably support the University of Bremen’s strategy to further expand the campus as a place of international and intercultural encounters in Bremen,” emphasized Scholz-Reiter at the meeting to extend the agreement.
In concrete terms, there are three projects that Santander will continue to support: the U Bremen Research Alliance Welcome Center, the Bremen International Student Research Internship Program (BISIP), and the Deutschlandstipendium.
Further Development of the Welcome Center
The Welcome Center offers the approximately 200 international scientists at the University of Bremen assistance with integrating into social life in Bremen and promotes exchanges with German researchers. With the support of Santander Universities so far, the staff capacity of the Welcome Center has been increased. This has led to a sustained increase in service capacity and has enabled concrete expansion measures such as German courses for international scientists, courses, and excursions. One of the plans for the next few years is to further strengthen the close ties with the city and the region as a whole. Together with a variety of measures for career development within the academic system, it is intended to highlight paths to areas outside of science. In addition, it is planned to extend the offer to all incoming scientists from Germany and abroad.
Research Scholarships for Foreign Students
The BISIP, introduced in 2011, offers foreign students from the University of Bremen’s partner universities the opportunity to complete a three-to-six-month research internship to pursue their own research interests at the university’s renowned research institutes. The visiting students carry out their research in tandem with Bremen students. In the two previous funding phases supported by Santander Universities, 50 international students from 14 universities in five countries were supported during their stay at the University of Bremen. In the future, students of humanities and social sciences will be more involved in the Santander BISIP than they were in the past. In addition, societal and political networking is to be intensified.
Ten German Scholarships for Particularly Gifted Students
In addition, Santander will continue to provide ten scholarships for University of Bremen students as part of the Deutschlandstipendium. In this program, students whose personal development is expected to lead to outstanding academic and professional achievements are supported with 300 euros per month. Half of the funding for this comes from private donors; the other half comes from the federal budget.
Santander’s Commitment
The Santander Group was recently named the world’s most sustainable bank in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The bank’s commitment to higher education through the global division Santander Universities was instrumental in this. In Germany, the University of Bremen is supported by Santander Universities as 1 of over 20 partner universities; worldwide, there are over 1,200 universities. “We want to make a lasting commitment to higher education and give young talents the opportunity to exchange ideas and develop in an intercultural context. To enable synergies in exchange with and for the universities is the approach of our support,” says Fernando Silva, member of the board.
Additional Information:
www.uni-bremen.de/research-alliance/welcome-center/
www.santander.com/csgs/Satellite/CFWCSancomQP01/en_GB/Corporate/Sustainability/Santander-Universities-/Germany-Santander-BISIP-research-scholarships.html
www.uni-bremen.de/kooperationen/foerderer-alumni/das-deutschlandstipendium/
www.uni-bremen.de/en/
Contact:
Lucie Schepputat
Communications
Santander Consumer Bank AG
Phone: +49 2161 690-0072
Email: lucie.schepputatprotect me ?!santanderprotect me ?!.de
Dr. Christina Jung
UniTransfer – Sponsors and Partners
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-60336
Email: christina.jungprotect me ?!vw.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
