Swiss Businessman Gives $250-Million

In what is believed to be the largest donation ever to a German university, a Swiss businessman’s foundation has pledged more than $250-million over five years to International University Bremen, in northern Germany, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The university will be renamed after the donor, German-born Klaus J. Jacobs, chairman of the board of a global temporary-employment company, the Chronicle reports. The university is closely linked with Rice University.

Mr. Jacobs’s foundation, which previously gave the university $8-million, will give $19-million annually to support research and teaching. Jacobs University Bremen, where classes are conducted in English and students live in dormitories on campus, will receive the remaining $155-million in 2011 once the Jacobs Foundation determines its initial donations have achieved their purpose.

“I would like to set an example to show what private commitment can achieve,” Mr. Jacobs said in a statement. “And of course I do hope that our support motivates other private initiatives for the promotion of science.”

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