College to receive $150,000 a year to develop dual degree program with Spanish institution
05/18/2009
Banco Santander S.A., the largest commercial bank in Europe, signed an agreement last week to form a partnership with The State University of New York that will further international education and research. The bank will provide SUNY with $1.5 million over the next three years to support four initiatives: teacher education; dual diploma programs; student exchange; and research.
One of the initiatives includes a dual diploma pilot program in economics with the State University of New York at New Paltz and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain (UC3M). Provost David Lavallee said the college should receive $150,000 a year. These funds will help support a bachelor’s program for UC3M students to study approximately two years at each university. In year five of the program, graduates will also be eligible to conduct one-year paid internships at Banco Santander affiliates here in the U.S., as well as in Spain. In addition, funding from Santander will be used for travel grants for faculty to work out curriculum details and for partial scholarships for SUNY students for study at UC3M.
This program will serve as a pilot for other similar programs in various disciplines with UC3M and with other Spanish institutions of higher education and additional SUNY campuses.
Since 1998, Banco Santander has been focusing its corporate social responsibility on higher education. In 2004, international education became a primary focal point on the bank’s higher education funding priorities.
The Center for International Programs at New Paltz (www.newpaltz.edu/international) has been an active participant in international education for more than 100 years and has achieved national recognition for its special approaches to international education. Today, students are able to choose from nearly 300 undergraduate and 50 graduate programs.
Located in the heart of a dynamic college town, 90 minutes from metropolitan New York City, the State University of New York at New Paltz is a highly selective college of about 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
One of the most well-regarded public colleges in the nation, New Paltz delivers an extraordinary number of majors in Business, Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Fine and Performing Arts and Education.
New Paltz embraces its culture as a community where talented and independent minded people from around the world create close personal links with real scholars and artists who love to teach.
