The University of Sunderland and Santander have signed an agreement to double the support the global bank offers to students to help them fulfil their potential.
Their long-running partnership, which has already seen Santander support hundreds of Sunderland students, will offer £100,000 of financial support each year until 2026-2027.
The new support package includes:
- Six £5,000 Entrepreneurship Awards, which are open to Sunderland students, staff and graduates to support entrepreneurs run their fledgling business.
- Ten £1,000 Brighter Futures Awards, which will help Sunderland students focus on their studies with less financial pressure;
- Six £5,000 Education Awards, which can be used to cover essential educational costs such as tuition fees, course materials and accommodation or anything else that will help create an environment where students can better focus on their studies;
- One hundred and twenty £250 Employability Awards, which will support students juggling unexpected costs when launching their careers, whether that is travelling to an interview, or covering the essentials for a placement or internship; and
Among those receiving awards was Kirsty Knott, who graduated from the University with a degree in Business and Financial Management in 2010. With the support of a £5,000 Entrepreneurship Award Kirsty is sharing her skills and experience in business via her podcast, Expansions Coaching.
“It’s a bi-weekly podcast where my husband Anth and I talk about how to navigate difficult situations and the impact remaining positive can have,” says Kirsty, 37, from Ryton.
“Expansions Coaching takes a different subject each time; for example, it could be how to be more confident and bring in elements of positive psychology and neuroscience to explain what’s really going on.
Expansion Coaching are also launching face to face networking events, starting on 14 May with The Crack on Club, a club for small business to meet up and network, at Twenty Twenty Bar in Newcastle. Find out more and book HERE.
Also receiving an award of £5,000 is MA Media Production student Graeme Costello. Who is already beginning to see an impact on his business.
“My business, 3467 Collective, is a multimedia digital first studio. We develop original content across scripted comedy, short films and online formats with the goal of creating opportunities for emerging creatives in the north-east and building intellectual property (IP) to take productions from digital to traditional media.
“I applied for a Santander award to try and help accelerate what we’re already building. We’ve been producing content independently, but this support allows us to scale that work and improve our productions to create a new route for people seeking roles within the region.
“The funding will allow us to expand our current slate and bring in more paid cast and crew whilst growing and developing new ideas and IP for our new comedy platform, J98 Online. It’s a really big step for us towards achieving our end goal of a fully-fledged digital studio.”
If you are a student or graduate with a business idea that you need support to further develop contact startup@sunderland.ac.uk
