Careers360 World-class universities: What can India learn? | Page 5

World class university Finances It is all about money, very big money at that Being world class does not come cheap. While universities with 2 lakh crore rupees endowments are few, we found that most global universities have operating budgets over 20,000 crores per annum… by Team Careers360 E ndowments worth rupees 203,373 crores (USD 32.7 billion ) is what Harvard has under its command. Drew Faust, President, Harvard university puts it in perspective by commending that just about 5% of the whole endowment could be used on an annual basis, since they come with a whole lot of stipulations and covenants. Even then 5% of that is about 10,000 crores, nearly 38 % of the university’s annual expenditure. That is the kind of financial muscle global universities enjoy. What are endowments? University education, especially in nonstate funded colleges, is quite expensive. Income from endowment is the most common route that these institutions use to provide financial assistance and attract high quality students Endowments are funds that academic institutions frequently control, which finance 34 Careers 360 January 2014 Global Annual Expenditure University of Pennsylvania 41,052 University of Michigan Ann Arbor University of Washington 38,070 36,691 a portion of the operating or capital needs of the institution. These are normally financial but also can be in the form of land or buildings. World class universities constantly compete for funds to enable themselves to expand and grow. For example Harvard University which boasts of the world’s largest endowment has now come up with a Yale university with an annual budget of $2.82 billion justifies big spending for quality education