University partnership
reaches £1 million milestone
A
PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN QMU
and Santander Universities UK
has gone from strength to strength
after reaching a £1 million milestone to
support students, graduates, staff and
the wider community.
The latest funding boost from Santander
is now helping QMU deliver a variety of
new support initiatives, including widening
access scholarships, student mobility,
community engagement and outreach and
entrepreneurship.
The new three-year commitment also
means that Santander will support a
number of QMU’s outreach and community
engagement projects involving, for the first
time, local primary and secondary schools.
Staff and children at Musselburgh Burgh
Primary School were pleased to host a fun
celebration that marked the beginning of
this new QMU and Santander agreement.
QMU is committed to widening
participation amongst students who have
previously been inhibited from entering
higher education for social, economic
or cultural reasons. The Outreach and
Community Engagement (OCE) team
seeks to support students to join QMU
from groups who may not traditionally
access higher education. This includes
those that are: first generation to go to
higher education; from low progression
schools; reside in communities in the lowest
20-40% of the Scottish Index of Multiple
Deprivation (MD20/40); articulating students
from Scotland’s colleges, or those who are
care leavers
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or students with caring responsibilities.
Over the last ten years, the Santander
partnership with QMU has already provided
support for over 400 staff, students, small
and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and
charities. Students have received Santander
scholarships; QMU staff and students have
benefitted from research and mobility
funding; students, graduates and local
SMEs have participated in the Santander
Universities SME Internship Programme
and local charities have derived benefits
from the Community Awards.
Funding over the last decade has also
been used to increase the University’s
international reach, develop links with the
local community, encourage outstanding
research and teaching, and enhance
employability for QMU students and
graduates.
In recognition of the huge commitment
from Santander over the last ten years,
QMU has created a permanent dedication
to the partnership by naming one of its
lecture theatres ‘The Santander Lecture
Theatre’.
Professor Petra Wend, QMU Principal,
said: “This renewed commitment from
Santander is already making a huge
difference to our students, staff and
local community every single day, and
I’m so privileged to have witnessed the
transformational effects that this support
has had on the University, the community
and the student experience.” ❒
QMYOU / Supporting Student Development
Trip of a lifetime
made possible by
Santander
An opportunity to study in Venice, made
possible by Santander Universities
funding, not only presented Liz Deeming
with the trip of a lifetime, it helped improve
her confidence and raise her aspirations.
Liz, a mature student on QMU’s BSc
Public Sociology, initially came to the
University through the ‘Mad People’s
History and Identity’ project. The project
aims to widen participation in higher
education for people who have had lived
experience of mental health issues.
During her degree, Liz was one of ten
students who had the opportunity to learn
about health inequalities and social care
in Italy from world-class sociology and
psychology academics at Ca Foscari
University of Venice. The study group also
embarked on cultural tours across the city
and were given an insight into the historic
treatment of Venetian mental health
patients during a trip to the infamous San
Servolo Insane Asylum Museum.
Liz said: “This was the first time I had
travelled outside the UK in over 20 years
and the experienced helped me focus on
my studies at QMU, as well as how I look
at the world. As a result of the trip, I now
want to go on to postgraduate study in
public sociology at QMU and ultimately
become a lecturer in public sociology,
specialising in veterans of the armed and
emergency services.” ❒