UIC Barcelona, with support from Banco Santander through Santander Universidades, offered financial aid for university students who are Alumni members for the ninth consecutive year. Alumni is a group of former students and friends of UIC Barcelona, and some of them who meet a certain set of requirements related to either their academic record or their economic and family situation (large families, unemployed families, families with a member with disabilities, orphans, etc) are eligible for this grant. Through this funding, the university works to ensure its students’ well-being, beyond academic learning. 

The event, presided over by the rector of UIC Barcelona, Dr Xavier Gil, also included participation from Luis Herrero, the general assistant director of Banco Santander and director of the Catalonia Area at Santander Spain; José María García de los Ríos, director of Zona Santander Universidades and Ignacio Parellada, president of the Alumni Group at UIC Barcelona. 

In his speech Luis Herrero reminded people that the award of these grants is part of the commitment the bank has to society, education and research through the Santander Universidades organisation, in order to contribute to progress for individuals and he said: “Thank you, rector, for encouraging this initiative and for ensuring its continuity in such a positive way. This initiative proves the importance of access to higher education, the culture of effort and the leading role of the university in economic, social and cultural progress”. 

On the other hand, Adrián Pérez, a student from the Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, said a few words of thanks on behalf of those awarded grants: “I would like to thank Banco Santander once again for its commitment to students, universities and companies, and the Alumni group as well for accompanying me throughout this journey, in order to ensure that students receive professional guidance and continuing education in order to develop our careers”.

The grant-holders are from almost every degree programme at UIC Barcelona, which means they were fairly distributed.

Banco Santander is the company which invests the most in education in the world (Varkey/UNESCO-Fortune 500 Report) through Santander Universidades and it holds 1.200 agreements with universities and institutions in 22 countries.  It has been working on this initiative and other initiatives with UIC Barcelona since 2004 through the corporate area of Santander Universidades. This morning in the Sala de Juntes room the agreement we hold with this bank was renewed for a further two years.