New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) Industrialist Anand Mahindra and his family on Tuesday pledged over Rs 500 crore for Hyderabad-based Mahindra University.

The capital, to be invested over the next five years starting FY25 till FY29, is being put in by Anand Mahindra and his family to add new disciplines and to make the university a centre of excellence.

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The Mahindra Group Chairman has also pledged a separate Rs 50 crore in his personal capacity for Indira Mahindra School of Education, a part of Mahindra University, 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.

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In an interaction with PTI, Mahindra said the university has set up multiple schools at the university campus in a very short time under the leadership of Vice-Chancellor Yajulu Medury.

"Now the goal is to really ramp up quickly, gain momentum, improve the quality, get the faculty and make sure the facilities for each of these colleges are superlative. And to that I am pledging Rs 500 crore to the university over a period of five years," he stated.

As part of the initiative, Rs 100 crore is being set aside for the overall university to start with this year, Mahindra said. An amount of Rs 50 crore is being marked separately towards Mahindra School of Education, he added.

Mahindra University (MU) was established in May 2020 as the brainchild of Vineet Nayar, former Vice Chairman of Tech Mahindra.

The university currently offers 35 programmes across five schools and four centres at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate levels.

Two additional schools, including the School of Hospitality Management, are expected to be established in 2024-25.

"There is a school of liberal arts, as well as a school of hospitality that will be coming up," Mahindra stated.

MU has over 4,100 students enrolled, approximately 10 per cent of whom are at the postgraduate level.

The university has partnered with various global academic institutions, such as Centrale Supelec (erstwhile Ãcole Central Paris), Cornell SC Johnson School of Business, Virginia Tech, Babson College, the University of Florida, and La Trobe University, for curriculum building, student immersion and exchange programmes, faculty exchange programmes, and research collaborations.

This combined pledge of Rs 550 crore is the latest of many education initiatives that Anand Mahindra supports around India, including Mahindra United World College India and Mahindra International School.

In 1996, he started the Nanhi Kali programme, which has provided over 7 lakh underprivileged girls with access to high-quality education over the past two decades.

Besides, Mahindra is the Chairman of the Board of Naandi Foundation, an NGO focused on educating girls, skilling youth, and providing sustainable livelihoods to small farmers through biodynamic agriculture.

He also serves on the Founders' Board of The Rise Fund, a USD 2 billion impact fund.

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