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Ruth Gottesman donated $1 billion to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx to cover tuition for all future students. Bronx ranks last for health outcomes in New York.
All current fourth-year students at the college will have their spring 2024 tuition reimbursed, and all future students will have free tuition.
Her husband, David (Sandy) Gottesman, left her a portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway shares at death in 2021. He requested her to - "Do whatever you think is right with it,"
Sandy was an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway and founder of First Manhattan, an Investment advisory firm with over $20 billion in Assets under Management.
Ruth, a clinical professor emerita of pediatrics at Einstein, in a rare action, decided to offer free tuition for medical students in the school in perpetuity.
Mrs Gottesman also, requested that the school do not change its name as is done in most cases to reflect the name of a big donor.
Her action is worthy of emulation. Creating equal access in education is a moral obligation to government and citizens.
Education is not cheap. I look forward to the day the Nigerian rich would find our universities worthy to receive bequests to help fund education.
To attract such funding would require restructuring our universities to become independent, autonomous, and non-profits with credible boards that ensure transparency in expenditure and cost-reflective fees that offer grants, federal scholarships, and loans to those who need them.
Nigerian education requires an urgent infusion of cash, reorganisation, and a reimagining of the roles of government, academics, staff, and students to attract funding.
Federal government can experiement a restructuring with six universities, one per geopolitical zone.
The current $250 salary for university professors has grave consequences for attracting and retaining our best brains. The time to reset is now. Let's renew the idea of education in Nigeria.
Osita Chidoka
27 February 2024