NYU and Banco Santander Announce New Collaboration on Global Education

By Eric Narburgh

This fall, 49 NYU undergraduates studying abroad have been named Banco Santander Scholars under an agreement between the University and Banco Santander, one of the world’s leading global banks and a significant contributor to international higher education.
    The landmark collaboration provides immediate funding for undergraduate scholarships at NYU’s study abroad sites in London, Shanghai, and Buenos Aires. Banco Santander Scholars have received scholarships to offset costs associated with international study, including travel, books, living expenses, and local educational excursions, thus exposing NYU’s popular international programs to students who might otherwise be unable to afford these opportunities.
    In addition to undergraduate scholarships, the new partnership between NYU and Banco Santander, through Santander Universities Global Division, also provides for international visiting faculty, graduate fellowships in Spanish creative writing, and student internships at Banco Santander offices worldwide. Since 1996, through its Santander Universities Global Division, Banco Santander has channeled almost half a billion Euros into academia through cooperative agreements with 700 universities in Spain, Latin America, Portugal, Russia, China, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
    “In an age when most college graduates will change careers several times, and when many companies increasingly rely on being connected to partners across the world, the opportunity to study in a foreign country is a key component of a meaningful undergraduate experience,” said Ulrich Baer, vice provost for globalization and multicultural affairs. “Only by studying abroad do students acquire skills that they may then apply in different contexts. The Banco Santander agreement greatly helps NYU in its commitment to educate students to become truly global citizens and leaders.”
    The agreement also supports the Santander Faculty Fellows, who will undertake research, teach undergraduates, and collaborate with faculty, exposing the NYU community to important scholars from around the world. The first Banco Santander Global Visiting Faculty Fellow, Diamela Eltit, is a renowned writer, performance artist, and social critic from Chile whose work explores complex issues of femininity, marginality, and corporeality in Chilean society. Eltit is teaching in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures during the current academic year. Next spring, other scholars from Latin America, the U.K., Portugal, Spain, and Russia will also teach NYU students in New York City.
    Elisa Montesinos and Carlos Vazquez Cruz have also settled at Washington Square as the first Banco Santander Fellows in Spanish Creative Writing. Montesinos, a young Chilean writer, has combined her work as an independent journalist with creative non-fiction, cultivating “in-between” genres such as travelogues, crónicas, and testimonials. Cruz is a writer and literary critic from Puerto Rico who has published articles, poetry, and fiction, including a book of poems, short stories, and a novel, Dos Centímetros de Mar. Last month, Cruz participated in a student reading celebrating the second year of the MFA Program in Spanish Creative Writing.