[Singapore and Hong Kong, 8 March 2007]- The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) is pleased to announce that it has received a S$100 million gift from the Li Ka-shing Foundation and Dr Li Ka-shing’s group of companies, Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited and Hutchison Whampoa Limited. The S$100 million gift will be matched with a dollar-for-dollar matching grant from the Singapore Government. The two contributions will be combined together to create an endowment fund to support academic activities.
Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of LKYSPP said: “We deeply appreciate this generous contribution by Dr Li. One key goal of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy is to train the next generation of policy makers and leaders who will help raise standards of governance and improve the lives of ordinary people in the region.” He added: “By allowing the School to offer more scholarships, Dr Li’s gift will help us fulfill one of our key missions of attracting promising young policy makers from Asia to study public policy. The region needs to develop strong public sector institutions to keep pace with its economic growth. Over the longer term this will benefit not only Asia but the whole world. In this context, Dr Li’s gift is an important contribution not just to our School but also to Asia and the world.”
NUS President Professor Shih Choon Fong said: “We are deeply grateful to Dr Li Ka-shing for his generosity and confidence in NUS’ Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Higher education in Singapore has benefited greatly from the support and munificence of visionary philanthropists. Dr Li’s transformational gift will enable the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy to strive for new heights of excellence, and help NUS extend its reach and impact as a global university of distinction.”
The gift by the Li Ka-shing Foundation (50%), Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited (25%) and Hutchison Whampoa Limited (25%) will be used to create an endowment fund to support academic activities including the endowment of chair professorships and the setting up of more than 40 scholarships annually. These scholarships will continue in perpetuity and over time create a distinguished alumni of policy makers in the region. The scholarships offered by the School will benefit students from Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries and regions, as well as local students in Singapore, Professor Mahbubani added.
To honour and recognise Dr Li’s support and generosity, LKYSPP will name one of its three buildings at the historic Bukit Timah Campus after him. The building – which sits on a rise overlooking the Botanic Gardens valley – houses the school’s executive education programmes and the largest concentration of its faculty and researchers.
Dr Li Ka-shing said: “Globalisation posts new complexities for governments worldwide. Policy makers everywhere need to develop policies that embrace the importance of diversity and integrate it within a structure of unity. This is certainly an important task and a formidable challenge. By bringing together policy makers from different countries to think about these issues together, I hope the scholarships might sow seeds of perpetual prosperity and peace.”
Minister Mentor Lee said: “Dr Li Ka-shing and I are old friends. By his generous donation of S$100 million to the LKYSPP, I am happy that his name will be on one of the three blocks of buildings on the campus of the school that is named after me.”
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