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Leading UK bank opens doors on campus

15/11/2016

Santander UK’s new branch at the University of Wolverhampton was officially opened yesterday (Tuesday, 15 November) by the bank’s Deputy CEO and Head of Retail & Business Banking, Javier San Felix and University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Geoff Layer.

Mr San Felix, together with Mr Layer and the Branch Manager Michael Taylor, cut a ribbon to welcome University staff, students and visitors to the new branch in the Ambika Paul Building.

The University of Wolverhampton has strong links with Santander after signing a partnership agreement in February with the bank’s Santander Universities division who committed over £120,000 in funding during a three year period. The support will primarily focus on promoting international exchange through scholarships and travel grants, encouraging student entrepreneurial activities, and supporting employability through internships and work placements with local SMEs.

Professor Geoff Layer said: “We are delighted to have officially opened our new Santander branch, which is already proving to be a great asset to the campus for our students, staff and visitors.

“We place strong emphasis on employability and entrepreneurship at the University of Wolverhampton, and an impressive 96% of our graduates are in employment or further study six months after leaving us. It is therefore fantastic that even more students and graduates will have access to study scholarships, international work placements and internships through our partnership with Santander.”

Javier San Felix, said: “Santander is committed to supporting higher education as well as local communities across the UK.  We’re delighted to open this new branch which helps us meet our goals of providing an excellent level of service whilst increasing and deepening the relationships with our customers. It’s also been great to meet students and staff from the University, and see first-hand the real impact of our joint programmes, in particular the internship scheme which is helping to improve the employability of young people in the region as well as helping local businesses access young talent.”

The new branch offers a range of state of the art customer services which include access to digital banking with free wifi for customers to use their own mobile devices as well as special customer tablets, two digital ATMs, and two private interview rooms. The branch is located in the main entrance to the Ambika Paul Building at the Wolverhampton Campus and is open from 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday. The ATMs are open seven days a week.

Santander, through its Santander Universities division, maintains partnerships with close to 1,200 academic institutions in 22 countries. Santander Universities was introduced in the UK in 2007 and the bank is already collaborating with 81 British Universities and Higher Education Institutions, with agreements focused on promoting international exchange, entrepreneurial activities and the mobility of students and researchers within the network.  

Shaz Yousuf, 24 from Walsall, who studied for a degree in Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Wolverhampton, said:  “The Santander bursary of £1,000 helped me enormously with travel, transport and living costs when I was on placement as a Marketing Intern in Malta.  I was lucky enough to get an internship in Europe through the partnership and the bursary helped me with food and general living cost while I was gaining valuable work experience.”

Picture Caption (above) from left to right: Shaz Yousuf, Computer Systems Engineering graduate, Professor Geoff Layer, Vice-Chancellor, Patrycja Kalkowska International Business Management student and Michael Taylor, Santander Branch Manager at the University of Wolverhampton.

 

ENDS

For more information please contact the Media Relations Office on 01902 32 2736 or 01902 518647.

Date Issued: 15th November 2016

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

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