Report by India Education bureau, Yale: Yale University and Banco Santander entered into formal agreement on Feb. 6 that expands an ongoing partnership in support of international education. The bank, which made its first grants to Yale in 2011, has committed new funding to the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.

The agreement was celebrated with a formal signing ceremony on Yale’s campus attended by executives of Banco Santander’s U.S. subsidiary Sovereign Bank and its philanthropic organization Santander Universities Global Division, as well as Yale administrators, faculty, and students.

In signing the agreement, President-elect Peter Salovey stated, “Yale and Banco Santander are already close partners in developing key international initiatives across the Yale campus. We are deeply grateful for today’s agreement, which builds on our strategically important and productive alliance. Together we can advance a common purpose: to strengthen the worldwide exchange of crucial ideas, opinions, and information in an era of globalization.”

“We are proud to once again partner with Yale University to fund the Center for the Study of Globalization,” said Jorge Moran, Santander U.S. country head and Sovereign Bank president and chief executive officer. “We at Santander are the ‘bank for your ideas.’ We are strong supporters of connecting ideas and people. The center connects key influencers, creators, and academics under a common purpose to enact real global change through the exchange of powerful ideas. I look forward to what this agreement can accomplish for international collaboration and progress.”

The Yale Center for the Study of Globalization was established in 2001 to promote an understanding of globalization and foster the exchange of information between Yale faculty and policymakers. Since its founding, it has become an esteemed contributor to the ongoing international conversation on issues facing an increasingly interconnected world. Under the direction of Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico, the center focuses on global development, financial globalization, international trade, and the provision of key global public goods. Other topics include the examination of the international regime of drug control and nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Banco Santander will help to fund core activities such as lectures, conferences, workshops, international collaborations, research, publications, and policy reports.

The bank currently also supports the Yale College/Santander International Experience Program, which provides financial aid and study abroad experiences; Yale’s World Fellows Program, which brings together promising mid-career professionals from around the world to campus for a semester of study; and the restoration of “The Education of the Virgin” (ca. 1617–1618), a painting attributed to Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez in the Yale University Art Gallery.