At a time when the demand for quality education and research in leading universities in India and advanced nations is on the rise, the staggering tuition fees demanded by universities of repute, besides deterring the meritorious from pursuing their degrees from world-class universities, create compulsions to turn professions into business propositions rather than opportunities to serve and excel.
Carving out a niche in the annals of the global education architecture, New York University’s NYU Grossman School of Medicine announced that from the 2021–22 academic year, it will pay the tuition fees for all its students admitted in its MD programme, regardless of their financial needs, thereby becoming the first major American medical school to do so.
Kenneth G. Langone, Chair of NYU Langone Health’s Board of Trustees, who made his U.S.$3.5 billion fortune as a co-founder of Home Depot, with his wife Elaine, has given U.S.$100 million to fund the tuition package. NYU has already raised more than U.S.$450 million of the U.S.$600 million it needs to fund the programme.
