Not being a state school, the International University Bremen isn’t eligible to compete for funding through Germany’s excellence initiative (see the story on page 28). But the country’s only nonspecialized private university has won big with what may be the largest-ever philanthropic donation to higher education in Europe. As a thank-you for €200 million (roughly $265 million) from the Swiss-based Jacobs Foundation, IUB will change its name next spring to Jacobs University Bremen.
The Jacobs Foundation announced on 1 November that it will give the university €15 million a year for the next five years to balance its €40 million operating budget, plus €125 million in 2011 for its endowment. Klaus J. Jacobs, whose fortune comes from the coffee of the same name and who is originally from Bremen, said in a statement that his foundation aims to provide young people with an education that “has practical relevance and which...
