20.09.10. Major donation funds new school for ‘leaders of tomorrow’

Europe’s first major academic school of government, which opens today at the University of Oxford, has been bankrolled by one of the largest philanthropic gifts received by the institution in its 900-year history. Leonard Blavatnik, an American industrialist, has committed £75 million to set up the school and is already considering making additional donations. The university itself has made £26 million available to help establish the new Blavatnik School of Government, which will support 40 academic posts at Oxford. The school’s first students will enrol in 2012, with 120 eventually studying at the centre. Teaching will be undertaken not only by in-house academics but also by world leaders in business, education and government. The university said the school will “train outstanding graduates from across the world in the skills and responsibilities of government”. Read full text here.