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Stanford creates world's biggest scholarship

Posted at 10:04 AM, Feb 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-24 13:05:25-05

A $400 million donation from the Nike co-founder is allowing Stanford University to create the largest fully-endowed scholarship in the world.

The ambitious graduate-level scholarship program will be used to tackle global challenges.

The San Jose Mercury News reports Wednesday that Phil Knight made the donation to create the program that will be larger in scope than the Rhodes Scholarships at Oxford.

The gift from Knight is the largest cash donation from an individual in Stanford history. On Wednesday, Stanford will unveil the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program, which, with donations from alumni and members of Stanford's Board of Trustees, will grow to $750 million.

The program is the brainchild of outgoing Stanford President John Hennessy, who approached Knight about the idea and said the billionaire businessman agreed with two conditions: that Hennessy run the program and share its name, the newspaper reported.