Scholarship programs – BBVA supports the future of thousands of children and young people
The new academic year has already begun and children are back to school. They are back to classes, books and breaks. However, this indispensable routine would only be a dream for many families were they to have no help. For this reason, BBVA has implemented several scholarship and education support programs that help countless children and young people experience their return to school like any other child and have the chance to complete their education.
In Colombia, BBVA has invested more than 36 billion pesos to fund education, sports and cultural projects. Its initiatives include scholarship programs and programs that offer school materials to underprivileged children, as well as technical and higher-education scholarships for young people in vulnerable areas. In total, this type of project is helping about 100,000 families in Colombia. “If a society is able to benefit from education under equal circumstances and to compete for better jobs and salaries under the same circumstances, this society is able to have a sustainable future and, as a result, our business becomes sustainable,” explained the Chairman of BBVA Colombia, Óscar Cabrera.
Education and promoting skills
“Niños Adelante” has helped more than 300,000 Colombian children go to school carrying their own backpack and school materials and, as a consequence, these children have been able to do their homework and complete other school tasks. This initiative is reducing school dropout rates due to lack of materials, one of the main reasons for children to drop out of school.
In Colombia, there are also programs that prepare young people for their professional future. An example of this type of initiative is the BBVA School for Entrepreneurship; it aids 50,000 14- and 15-year-olds in developing projects that deal with social, environmental and technology issues. The goal is to obtain financing for these projects so that these student entrepreneurs can fund their higher education.
“Cuento Contigo (I’m relying on you)” is a project that creates libraries for educational centers in collaboration with Colombia’s Ministry of Education. As of today, this program has reached 850,000 children from 393 municipalities in 30 departments.
Promoting reading is also the focus of “Leer es estar adelante (Reading Means Keeping Ahead)” that BBVA Continental has been implementing in Peru for the last nine years. Its goal is to improve the reading comprehension of students in public schools. More than 100,000 children have learned how to understand what they read, a key factor in helping them develop and progress.
Training for the future
The Integration Scholarship Program “Por los que se quedan (For those left behind)” has been supporting Mexican students for the last nine years, in communities with high emigration rates. As of today, BBVA Bancomer Foundation has awarded scholarships to almost 60,000 students and invested 1.521 billion pesos. The Director of BBVA Bancomer Foundation, Sofía Ize Ludlow, summarized the main reason for this policy when the latest scholarships were awarded: “We all hope for a more prosperous and a fairer Mexico, and this will be achieved from the foundation of better quality education.”
In Spain, BBVA offers internships to university students in all of its business areas, from Human Resources to Communication and Legal Services to Technology and Innovation. The beneficiaries of these internships can rely on the help of a tutor during the entire time they work at BBVA. For a list of available internships, see the BBVA careers portal. This program represents an excellent opportunity to start your professional career in a sector –banking– that offers countless chances to all kinds of profiles.