£26m donation to university

11:48am Wednesday 29th February 2012 in Oxford

Oxford University was today given a donation worth more than £26 million - one of the biggest in the elite institution's 900-year history.

The money will be used to set up humanities scholarships for graduate students.

The Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities will see students worldwide compete for an award to study subjects including literature, history, music, art history, Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies and archaeology.

There will be 15 scholarships to start with, and eventually at least 35 will be awarded each year.

The donation, which will ultimately be worth more than £26 million, has been made by Mica Ertegun, the widow of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun.

She said: "For Ahmet and for me, one of the great joys of life has been the study of history, music, languages, literature, art and archaeology.

"In these times, when there is so much strife in the world, I believe it is tremendously important to support those things that endure across time, that bind people together from every culture, and that enrich the capacity of human beings to understand one another and make the world a more humane place."

Mrs Ertegun said she was "very proud" of the scholarships.

The donation is the biggest made to the humanities faculty in Oxford's history, and one of the largest generally.

Oxford's vice-chancellor Andrew Hamilton said it was a "significant moment" for the study of the humanities.

"At a time when, in the UK, government support for the humanities is under intense pressure, vision and generosity like this is going to be what saves the field for future generations," he said.

Alongside the scholarships, the donation will fund a full-time Ertegun Senior Scholar in Residence who will mentor those on the scholarship scheme, and oversee a programme of lectures, seminars, concerts and other activities.

The students will have exclusive use of the Mica and Ahmet Ertegun House for the Study of the Humanities, a building in the centre of Oxford which will serve as their base for study and research.

Comments(12)

Your_Kidding says...
12:15pm Wed 29 Feb 12

Could think of a lot better use for £26 million than to give it to the elite to 'study'.

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Dilligaf2010 says...
12:18pm Wed 29 Feb 12

Your_Kidding wrote:
Could think of a lot better use for £26 million than to give it to the elite to 'study'.
Hear! Hear!

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Andrew:Oxford says...
3:18pm Wed 29 Feb 12

Your_Kidding wrote:
Could think of a lot better use for £26 million than to give it to the elite to 'study'.
Once you've earned it (or won it), you'll be able to donate a similar sum to whoever you wish.

For example, for a similar amount, you could sponsor free parking for all at the Westgate for over 2 years.

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Dilligaf2010 says...
3:22pm Wed 29 Feb 12

The money has come from the widow of the founder of Atlantic Records, just goes to prove the music business claiming piracy is costing them money, is complete tosh.

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WitneyGreen says...
4:20pm Wed 29 Feb 12

Your_Kidding wrote:
Could think of a lot better use for £26 million than to give it to the elite to 'study'.
Yes, there are better uses - hospitals, railway line etc. But the point of a scholarship is not that it allows the 'elite' to study. It allows the intelligent poor to study.

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Feelingsmatter says...
6:38pm Wed 29 Feb 12

Yes, but still, it's a staggering amount of money. Why not give 1% of it to keep the only dementia support day care service in Oxfordshire running for a decade? It would be a drop in the ocean, yet no one ever comes forward for these kind of enterprises with that kind of money.

I cannot see how this much money should ever be spent on education, as I'm sure that only a tiny number of graduates would think to donate any money to local charities. In fact, in an age when student loans are available to all in theory there should be no "poor" students............
........

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Feelingsmatter says...
6:58pm Wed 29 Feb 12

Oh, and by the way, this scholarship is for GRADUATE students.

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eatmygoal says...
10:36am Thu 1 Mar 12

How dare this person do what they want with their own money?

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Dilligaf2010 says...
12:00pm Thu 1 Mar 12

eatmygoal wrote:
How dare this person do what they want with their own money?
Ah, but it's money gained from the masses, being used to benefit the few, that's what's wrong.

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Dasdard says...
11:11am Fri 2 Mar 12

...Since when did anybody have a right to tell anybody else where to spend their money? This isn't money taken from the masses it was money made from a legitimate business of recording & distributing music, where the buyer CHOSE to purchase. The profits from which are being put back to whatever the owner of the company chooses to. Talk about chips on shoulders.

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faatmaan says...
8:52pm Fri 2 Mar 12

surely these are the type of degrees that the government is trying to stop favouring more vocationally orientated subjects for the masses, but how many from the masses will ever achieve the necessary admittance criteria to the top table of education, no this is money for a very select clique whom no doubt are already well to do and unlikely to actually work in the real world .

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simplicissimus says...
6:01am Fri 9 Mar 12

So much green eye on here, often from those who give little to others financially. I applaud the Erteguns' generosity to a noble cause.

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