Businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich is donating $100 million to launch a science and technology scholarship program that he believes will secure the future economic competitiveness of Canada and Israel.
“[Schulich] kept calling them the ‘game-changing gift,’ said Ted Sokolsky, CEO of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, which will administer the scholarships.
“He wants to, in a sense, rebrand the sciences and math, even at the high school level and make them attractive for kids again.”
The university entrance scholarships, dubbed Schulich Leader Scholarships, will award $60,000 over four years to selected ‘Schulich Leaders’ enrolling in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Schulich has stated that he hopes to see the scholarships attain a Rhodes Scholarship-type status.
All graduating high school or CEGEP students in Canada and Israel planning to study STEM subjects in university will be eligible to apply for the scholarships.
Twenty Canadian and five Israeli universities will be invited to participate in the program. Each will award one scholarship in the first year for a total of 25; that number will rise to 75 students by 2014.
Schulich plans to pilot the project for three years. Schulich couldn’t be reached for comment by press deadline.
Some of Schulich’s previous education-targeted philanthropic gestures have affixed his name to:
- York University’s Schulich School of Business;
-the University of Western Ontario’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry;
-the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering;
-the University of McGill’s Schulich School of Music; and
- Nipissing University’s Schulich School of Education.
Jenny Wagler
@ JennyWagler_BIV