Gates Foundation Considers Creating International Scholarship Foundation
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is considering setting up a $193.2 million international scholarship foundation that would bring the world’s top students to England's Cambridge University, the Times of London reports.
The scholarship foundation, which has been neither confirmed nor denied by representatives of the Gates Foundation and Cambridge University, would support 230 scholarships. If approved, the proposed foundation would rival Oxford University's prestigious Rhodes Scholarship program, which currently has an endowment of approximately $300 million.
But unlike the Rhodes program, which is only available to students in English-speaking countries, the proposed Gates scholarship program would be open to students from any country for study in any discipline. The program is expected to primarily attract students interested in science and technology, however.
Last September, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $1 billion to endow the Millennium Scholars program, which targets minority high school students and is designed to to cover most undergraduate and graduate expenses for approximately 1,000 recipients.
In January, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation surpassed Britain’s Wellcome Trust as the wealthiest foundation in the world, with an endowment in excess of $21.5 billion.
Castro, Hector. “Gates May Trump Rhodes in Scholarships.” The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 05/23/2000
MacIntyre, Ben. “Bill Gates to Spend 130m on Cambridge Scholars.” The London Times 05/23/00
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