IANS | 28 Mar, 2024
Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra and his family have pledged Rs
500 crore over the next five years to Mahindra University, starting
from the next financial year (FY25) till FY29, it was announced on
Wednesday.
The funds would help propel Mahindra University’s
mission to strive for interdisciplinary academic excellence and train
multi-skilled leaders committed to "inclusive and sustainable progress",
the university said in a statement.
Anand Mahindra also made a
personal pledge of Rs 50 crore endowing the Indira Mahindra School of
Education in FY25. Named in memory of Indira Mahindra, a teacher and
Anand Mahindra’s mother, the school aspires to be a centre of excellence
in educational research, practice, and innovations.
The combined
pledge of Rs 550 crore is the latest of many education initiatives that
Anand Mahindra supports around the country, including the Mahindra
United World College India and the Mahindra International School.
In
1996, the entrepreneur started the ‘Nanhi Kali’ programme, which has
provided over 700,000 underprivileged girls with access to high-quality
education over the past two decades.
Mahindra University was
established in May 2020 in Hyderabad. Beginning with the School of
Engineering, the university now offers 35 programmes across five schools
and four centres at the undergraduate, post-graduate, and doctorate
levels. The university has over 4,100 students enrolled, approximately
10 per cent of whom are at the postgraduate level.