May 2026. Banco Santander and the British Council are launching, for the first time, the Santander | British Council IELTS Online Course 2026, which will enable 500 people to access online English training to prepare for the IELTS exam, thanks to an initiative funded by Banco Santander.

Offered through Santander Open Academy, the bank’s global free online learning and professional development platform, the course will select the 100 best-performing participants from among the 500 beneficiaries to take the internationally recognised IELTS certification free of charge.

Who can apply for the free IELTS preparation courses?

  • The programme is aimed at people living in Spain and nine other participating countries — Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay — who are interested in improving their English level and expanding their professional opportunities.
  • The call is open to people over 18 years old. It is completely free of charge, thanks to Santander’s support, and does not require a university degree or being a Santander customer.
  • Through this training, participants not only gain access to free learning opportunities, but also progress according to their performance, making it possible to identify the candidates showing the greatest improvement and offer them the opportunity to advance their academic and professional paths by obtaining an international certification.

IELTS, one of the most internationally recognised English certifications

The initiative is aimed at people with a minimum B1 level and focuses on developing the four skills assessed in the IELTS test — reading, listening, writing and speaking — through a practical approach designed to maximise performance.

At the beginning of the course, participants will be required to book an initial 25-minute one-to-one session with a teacher. This session will allow the student’s level to be assessed and a personalised study plan to be defined. During the meeting, learners will receive feedback on their strengths and areas for improvement, recommendations tailored to their goals, and a proposed learning pathway for exam preparation.

Throughout the programme, participants will work on specific strategies and complete IELTS mock tests. The Reading and Listening sections are carried out online, with automatic marking through the platform, while the Writing and Speaking exercises take place in one-to-one sessions with a teacher, who provides detailed feedback and personalised recommendations to improve performance.

As recognition of their effort and demonstrated progress, the 100 participants showing the greatest improvement will be able to take the IELTS Online exam free of charge and obtain an officially recognised certification, key to their academic and professional development.

IELTS is an international certification designed to support academic and professional mobility, recognised by more than 12,500 organisations worldwide for educational and employment purposes, including governmental, academic and professional institutions.

Interested applicants can submit their application until 1 June 2026 through Santander Open Academy.

 

With this initiative, Banco Santander and the British Council are strengthening their collaboration to boost employability through language training, a partnership they have maintained for six years. Throughout 2026, both organisations will offer a total of 30,000 places to learn English across 12 countries through Santander Open Academy, distributed over three separate calls.

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2024–25, we reached 600 million people.  www.britishcouncil.org.

Santander and its support for education, employability and entrepreneurship

Banco Santander maintains a strong commitment to progress and inclusive, sustainable growth through its pioneering and long-standing support for education, employability and entrepreneurship over the past 30 years, setting it apart from other financial institutions worldwide. The bank has invested more than €2.5 billion in these areas and has supported over 8.3 million people and businesses through partnerships with more than 1,000 universities (www.santander.com/universidades).

Through its global learning and professional development platform, Santander Open Academy, it provides access to training designed to improve professional skills and employability, offering 100% funded courses, free high-quality content, and scholarships in partnership with leading universities and institutions.

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