Banco Santander Renews Agreement with Tsinghua
By Jiang Li, Special to the Tsinghua News Center
Banco Santander, Spain's largest bank renewed cooperation agreement with Tsinghua University on April 9. Banco Santander President Emilio Botin visited Tsinghua on that day and signed the renewal agreement.
The Chairman of the University Council, Hu Heping, extended a warm welcome from Tsinghua students to President Emilio Botin. Hu also expressed his gratitude to Banco Santander for its support of overseas exchange programs and Spanish language instruction at Tsinghua.
In Hu's speech, he hoped that both sides could enhance cooperation in educational and cultural matters. As the 100th anniversary of Tsinghua is rapidly approaching, Hu also stated Tsinghua would promote exchange and cooperation with other universities and organizations to cultivate more outstanding students.
President Botin congratulated Tsinghua on the 100th anniversary. He recalled that during the past 14 years, Banco Santander had started cooperation with 922 universities around the world. Tsinghua University is one of the most important partners of Banco Santander, and both sides would have closer cooperation through more programs in the future. The Spanish ambassador to China, Mr. Eugenio Bregolat, hoped the cooperation between Tsinghua and Banco Santander would strengthen educational and cultural exchanges between Spain and China.
Hu, Botin, and Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of Tsinghua University Education Foundation, Song Jun, jointly signed the agreement renewing cooperation after the meeting.
The agreement between Banco Santander and Tsinghua University dates back to 2008. During the past three years, Tsinghua has made great progress in cultivating students from overseas, exchanging teachers with Spanish universities, and providing Spanish language courses for its students.
Over 200 Tsinghua students have been supported by Banco Santander, and nearly 10 professors from Tsinghua and other universities have been visiting professors through the programs sponsored by Banco Santander.
(Photo by Guo Haijun)
