China's top Peking University recently received a 173.33 million yuan (US$21.7 million) donation from the Estate of Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat.

The estate was founded by descendants of the late Singapore banker and hotel owner, Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, who died of a heart attack on February 2, 2004.

With an estimated fortune of US$2.6 billion, he was named Singapore's richest man by the Forbes magazine in 2003.

It has been so far one of the most important foreign donations to Peking University, as well as the largest ever donation to any institute of higher learning in China, according to Xu Zhihong, president of Peking University.

The donation will be used for the development of two important buildings in Peking University, a sports complex and an auditorium at the School of Government.

In appreciation of the donation, both buildings will be named after the later Singapore billionaire, according to Xu.

The contribution will help defray the costs of the sports complex, which is currently under construction, Xu said.

The sports complex, which has an area totalling 26,900 square metres, will be used during the approaching 2008 Beijing Olympics as the venue for the table tennis competition.

Construction of the sports complex is expected to be finished by July next year.

According to Xu, social donations play a very important role for the university's overall development in its century-old history.

"Social donations, along with government appropriation and education revenue are major financial sources propelling the university's development," Xu said.

As a result, Xu said the estate's donation to Peking University shows strong support from Khoo's family to China's higher learning and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Sources with Peking University said that 150 million yuan (US$18.75 million) of the donation would be used for construction of the sports complex, while the rest will go to the auditorium.

"Khoo is not only an outstanding Singaporean business leader, but also a great Singaporean with Chinese origins," Xu said.

Peking University, which already has links with the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, expects a positive roll-over from the Khoo estate's donation.

Xu added that the donation also demonstrated the good relationship in terms of educational co-operation between China and Singapore.

"At Peking University, I hope to see more Singapore students; I also hope more Chinese students, including Peking University graduates, will go to Singapore for further studies," Xu said.

At Monday's donation signing ceremony, members from the Khoo family made their first trip to China for the event.

"Since my family originated from Fujian Province of China, my father always dreamt of returning," said Khoo Mavis, the eldest daughter of Khoo Teck Puat.

Although Khoo Teck Puat had never been to China, the donation helps him realize his dream, Mavis said.

"Contributing to education is not just a Chinese tradition, but also a focus of the Khoo estate," Mavis said.

According to Mavis, her father started banking in Singapore and Malaysia in the early 1960s.

Khoo was also the first biggest Asian investor in Britain's financial and banking service industry early in the 1980s.

"My father always showed great support to charities during his life, and he believed good education leads to good social values for students," Mavis said.

According to Mavis, the Khoo estate has also contributed much to Singapore's education in the past few years.

"We are contributing in the spirit of my late father's philanthropic vision to support deserving causes, such as education, regardless of geographical boundaries," Mavis said.

According to Mavis, the Khoo estate's donation involves several sectors, including education, health and medical research.

"China and Singapore have seen rapid development in exchange and co-operation of education over the past few years since there are currently more students from China going to study in Singapore and more Singapore students going to China for continued studies," Mavis said.

Since Peking University is one of the top higher learning institutes in China, the estate chose it as its first overseas donation destination, according to Mavis.

"We hope the donation will help foster co-operation and exchange in the education sector between China and Singapore," Mavis said.

Witnessing the event was also Singapore's Education Minister Tharman Shamugaratnam, along with his Chinese counterpart, Zhou Ji.

At their meeting, both sides agreed to deepen collaboration in research and development at the university level.

There are also some plans by the Singapore side to work with the leading Haidian School in Beijing's Haidian District.

In addition, both sides will facilitate more Chinese teachers to train at Singapore's National Institute of Education.

Singapore's Hwa Chong Institution will co-operate with the No 2 High School of the Beijing Normal University, on a half-year programme in China with a Singapore curriculum.

"Within a year they hope to send a significant number of students to be taught by Singapore teachers located within the Chinese school for up to six months, offering closer collaboration with teachers on the Chinese side," Tharman said.

"So this is a new model of education that is expected to yield mutual benefits in the years to come," he added.

During Tharman's visit, Singapore's Nanyang Polytechnic also inked an agreement with Beijing IT College, which will see 160 Singapore students spending eight weeks in China.

(China Daily 11/24/2006 page15)