Carnegie Mellon receives 35 million gift from TCS

Global IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services has donated $35 million to US-based Carnegie Mellon University, stating that the aid marks a new era of partnerships between the two. For the university, the gift represents the largest gift from outside the US in its history.

Carnegie Mellon is a renowned private university with programmes in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. To remain competitive, the Pennsylvania based university recently announced that it will build a new 40,000 square-feet facility, which will support education and research by Carnegie Mellon faculty and students. The stand-alone structure will among others house state-of-the-art facilities, providing collaborative spaces for the CMU community, as well as provide space for staff to interact with students and business leaders.

The new building follows in the footsteps of a larger expansion drive the university is currently executing. The new David A. Tepper Quadrangle, the university's major new academic hub, which will be located just east of the new TCS-funded facility, is Carnegie Mellon’s biggest campus enlargement since Andrew Carnegie founded the university in 1900.

As part of the deal with TCS, the Indian-origin IT services giant will donate $35 million in funding, and in return the new facility will be dubbed the ‘Tata Consultancy Services Building’. The new center will focus primarily on technology related topics such as Digital, IT, Big Data and IT-led innovation. The investment also will endow Presidential Fellowships and Scholarships, increasing access to a Carnegie Mellon for outstanding students. “With our shared commitment to education and research in areas that help address many challenges of our time, TCS' support of Carnegie Mellon is both natural and extraordinarily promising," says Carnegie Mellon President Subra Suresh. "Together, our two organisations have the capabilities to make breakthrough discoveries and the capacity to make societal impact on a global scale.”

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chief Executive Officer of TCS, says his company is “proud to invest in this landmark partnership”, adding that he looks forward to together with the university “promote market-driven innovation and accelerate advancements in technology.”