Nike founder Philip Knight has given $400m to Stanford University, equalling the largest individual donation to a US college, for an ambitious international programme to draw potential future world leaders to Silicon Valley.

耐克(Nike)创始人菲利普•奈特（Philip Knight，上图右）向斯坦福大学(Stanford University)捐赠4亿美元，这是个人向美国大学捐赠的最大一笔钱。这笔钱将用于一个雄心勃勃的国际奖学金项目，旨在将有潜力的未来世界领袖吸引到这所位于硅谷的大学来。

The donation marks the largest contribution to a $750m fund for an elite graduate scholarship scheme to rival established programmes like the 114-year-old Rhodes Scholarships at Oxford university, whose alumni include former president Bill Clinton.

这笔捐赠还是对一项7.5亿美元的精英研究生奖学金项目基金的最大一笔捐赠。该项目将媲美一些老牌项目，比如牛津大学(Oxford university)有114年历史的罗德奖学金(Rhodes Scholarship)项目，美国前总统比尔•克林顿(Bill Clinton)就曾获得该奖学金。

Growing competition to attract and train future political and business leaders from around world has produced a spate of well-financed scholarship schemes in recent years, with billionaires lining up to back the idea.

近来年，为吸引和培养来自世界各地的未来政治和商业领袖而展开的日益激烈的竞争，催生了一大批资金雄厚的奖学金项目，亿万富翁竞相出资支持。

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates put $210m behind a two-year scholarship programme that bears his name at Cambridge university, while Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive officer of investment firm Blackstone, has given $100m towards a one-year program at Beijing’s Tsinghua University that begins this year.

微软联合创始人比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)向剑桥大学(Cambridge University)捐款2.1亿美元设立了一个冠名的两年奖学金项目。投资公司黑石(Blackstone)首席执行官苏世民(Stephen Schwarzman)向北京清华大学(Tsinghua University)一项从今年开始招生的一年奖学金项目捐赠了1亿美元。

Stanford is set to top these in ambition, taking 100 students a year for three year graduate degrees that it claims will shape them to take on some of the world’s most complex and challenging social issues.

斯坦福的雄心超过了以上这些项目。斯坦福的项目每年将招收100名学生攻读三年制研究生学位。斯坦福声称，该项目培养出来的学生，将应对当今世界一些最复杂、最具挑战性的社会问题。

“We were struck by the need for better leadership around the world,” said John Hennessy, the president of Stanford, who came up with idea. “We thought leaders need to be educated in a different way, because you’re not going to solve these really hard problems. Whether it’s climate change, growing income disparity, poverty, corruption, you’re not going to solve them by just having a narrow background.”

“世界各地对更优秀领导者的需求让我们感到惊讶，”这一设想的提出者、斯坦福大学校长约翰•亨尼西（John Hennessy，上图左）表示，“我们认为需要以一种不同的方式来培养领导者，因为他们未来要去解决那些真正困难的问题。无论是气候变化，还是收入差距扩大、贫困和腐败问题，都是仅凭狭窄的背景无法解决的。”

Mr Knight, who had already given large amounts to Stanford and the University of Oregon, said he had a “soft spot for education” and been persuaded by Mr Hennessy’s vision of being able to train an elite group to make a real difference to the world. “I come from a world view that management and leadership matters — individual leaders can make a large difference,” said Mr Knight.

过去已经向斯坦福大学和俄勒冈大学(University of Oregon)捐赠过大笔资金的奈特表示，他“热爱教育”，而且被亨尼西提出的培养一群精英以切实改变世界的愿景说服。“在我的观念中，管理和领导力很重要——领导者个人可以产生很大的影响，”奈特说。

While expecting to draw a third of its students from the US, the programme is intended to pull promising talent from around the world, with a strong focus on Asia and developing countries in other regions, according to its founders.

根据项目创始人的说法，虽然预计三分之一的学生将从美国招收，但该项目有意从世界各地招募有潜力的人才，并将把很大一部分重心放在亚洲和其他地区的发展中国家上。

Stanford said it would start taking applications for the programme, known as the Knight-Hennessy Scholars, in the middle of 2017, with the first scholars admitted in the autumn of 2018.

斯坦福表示，这个命名为“奈特-亨尼西学者”(Knight-Hennessy Scholars)的项目将从2017年年中开始接收申请，首批奖学金获得者将于2018年秋季入学。