Indians are in a giving mood these days. They are happily donating huge sums of money to foreign universities as donations. Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and MD of Mahindra and Mahindra, was the recent add on to this list of ‘super generous’ Indians. News about Mahindra donating 10 million dollars to the Humanities stream at Harvard University
Other Indian and American born Indian business tycoons who have shelled out such exorbitant amounts to higher education in the U.S. Yale University
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| Anand Mahindra |
Happy to help
Every time there is a donation, the amount has an extra zero added to it. It’s almost becoming like a rat race to become the highest donor to a foreign university. The foreign universities, on the other hand, love this kind of attention.
These universities see Indians as their potential “donation” market. They have their agendas lined out. They approach India
Preference for donating abroad
It would have been of little impact if, these donations were made to lesser known and financially unstable universities. But the fact is that the donations are being made to the already elite universities like Harvard and Yale. Most tycoons give money to the universities which they last attended. This may serve a dual purpose – first, to show a spirit of global philanthropy and secondly, to get the building named after their mother/father.
Many are questioning the motives behind donating such large amounts to foreign universities when the Indian Education system needs these funds. In their defence, the donors say that they trust their donations to be used more productively by foreign universities. In the Indian education system, money gets used by corrupt authorities for personal purposes. Also, universities abroad have more power in terms of decision making.
It cannot be denied that in the past the Tata’s have aided the Indian education system in a big way. Several higher education institutions were started with the help of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust that was established in 1932. Private and top-ranked Indian School of Business in southern India
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| Harvard University: Do you think it needs donations? |
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