Argentina’s University Smart Card, observing its 10 year anniversary, is used by 270,000 students and university teachers at 25 universities. The card is issued by Banco Santander.

Argentina’s Business University was the first school to issue the smart card in 2002. It is one of the biggest private universities in the country serving 21,000 students and 4,000 teaching and administrative staff. Since the smart card’s inception, the university has incorporated new functions such as access control, library loans and attendance records for teachers. Every year, the bank issues about 6,800 cards to new students.

So far, 41% of the universities in Argentina have issued the smart card. Universities design and establish the functions of the card depending on the needs of each campus. The card can also provide debit functions.

The smart card is a service provided by the Bank through the Santander Universities global division to its partner universities. It was first issued in Spain in 1995 and Banco Santander currently issues 5.4 million of these cards to more than 250 universities in 11 countries.