He's Harvard University's most famous drop-out, but Microsoft leader Bill Gates might be turning his attention to a prestigious school across the pond, providing the University of Cambridge in England with $193 million to establish an international scholars program that would rival Oxford University's Rhodes Scholarships.
If the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation approves the proposal, the program would offer 230 scholarships to the best students from around the world to attend Cambridge in any field of study, news reports state. The plan also would establish a Bill Gates House at the university, which traces its history back to the 1200s.
The Rhodes Scholarship program at Oxford University was established after the death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902. This program offers scholarships to young academic and social service achievers from English-speaking countries.
Cambridge is well known for its technology and scientific research, and Gates earlier donated more than $17 million to the university for a new computer facility.
The Microsoft co-founder also has donated funds designated for research projects at Oxford University.
His best-known scholarship program, however, is the foundation's $1 billion Gates Millennium Scholars Program to fund 1,000 minority student scholarships, announced last year.
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