The University welcomed the senior executive onto campus for the guest lecture and to sign up to an extended partnership agreement between the two organisations.
The University and Santander began their partnership in 2011. Since then, Santander, through its Santander Universities UK division, has funded a wide range of scholarships, travel grants, awards and entrepreneurial activities at Hertfordshire. The University has also received funding for 60 part-funded internship opportunities with small and medium-sized enterprises through its agreement with Santander. Many of the students involved have gone on to be permanently employed by these organisations following their internships.
The signing of this new agreement means that Santander will continue its collaboration with the University for a further three years, providing additional funding for projects and internships for the University’s students.
The University’s Vice-Chancellor Quintin McKellar said: “I am delighted that Santander Universities UK has chosen to continue its collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire for a further three years and it was a pleasure to welcome Steve Pateman to the University today. Santander’s support of our activities has been most valuable for key projects in areas such as enterprise, research and scholarships and I look forward to continuing this partnership and creating further entrepreneurial opportunities for our students.”
Steve Pateman added: “The education provided by Universities to our future entrepreneurs is vital so that they can learn from practice as well as theory. These entrepreneurs will eventually become the business leaders of the future and they will be key to maintain a stable and robust economy. At Santander we support entrepreneurs through many different activities and its very encouraging to see how much students benefit from this support. Our partnership with Hertfordshire is a perfect example of a great relationship between businesses and universities which has the ultimate goal to benefit students.”
