MBA News: HBS Receives $50M from Indian Conglomerate

Harvard Business School has received $50 million—its largest gift ever from a non-U.S. donor—from India’s Tata Group, according to an HBS press release. The money will fund the construction of an academic and residential building on HBS’s Boston campus for executive education participants. Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons Ltd., attended HBS’s Advanced Management Program in 1975 and in 1995 was recognized with the school’s highest honor, the Alumni Achievement Award. HBS President Drew Faust said that with this gift, “HBS will be able to expand its already robust offerings in Executive Education, deepening ties with leaders across the country and around the globe.” This gift joins the ranks of the largest donations made to business schools, with David Booth’s $300 million donation to Chicago Booth two years ago being the highest, followed by the $105 million gift given to Stanford by Philip Knight in 2006 and Henry Kravis’s $100 million donation to Columbia earlier this month. However, the Tata gift is the only major donation from someone outside the United States who is not an MBA alumnus.