Johns Hopkins University Receives Record $100 Million Gift For Its Bologna Campus

Philanthropists James and Morag Anderson have made a $100 million gift to the Bologna, Italy campus of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The university described the donation as the largest private gift ever made to a university in Italy.

Johns Hopkins said it would use the gift to expand its SAIS Europe campus in Bologna into an international hub for research and collaboration that would attract leading academics and practitioners around the world to train students, advance public policy research and work towards peace and democratic development.

Specifically, the Anderson gift will help fund four priorities, outlined in SAIS Europe’s Vision 2030 strategic plan:

Faculty expansion. The gift will fund the addition of more full-time resident faculty in several key areas, including:

• Mediterranean studies
• Global risk
• Sustainable development and climate
• European studies (including Eastern Europe and EU integration)
• New technologies and international relations
• Industrial organization, finance, and markets

An integration fund. The integration fund will allow greater integration of SAIS Europe with other Johns Hopkins University schools and centers in the United States and in China. It will support as many as 20 faculty and staff for exchanges annually.

Financial aid. The Andersons’ gift will fund new two-year fellowships for master’s students spending one year in Bologna and one year in Washington, D.C. as well as new fellowships for students spending one or two years at the SAIS Europe campus. It will also support undergraduate scholarships and travel assistance and increase the number of undergraduate students at SAIS Europe to 20 BA/MA students per academic year.

Facilities. The gift will enable the addition of almost 3,000 square meters to the existing Bologna Center building, include more convening space, conference facilities, a language center, additional classrooms, and offices.

“The gift from James and Morag Anderson is transformational,” said Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels. “With it, SAIS Europe will further secure its role as a vibrant hub for scholarship, learning, and public policy at a critical juncture in global history. Among the most significant private philanthropic contributions ever made to higher education in Europe, it marks the Andersons’ belief in the unique role that universities can play in shaping and strengthening democratic society.”

In recognition of the gift, Johns Hopkins will rename the site the James and Morag Anderson Campus in Bologna. Johns Hopkins SAIS enrolls more than 1,100 students in more than 20 programs located in Washington, Nanjing, and Bologna. The Bologna campus was founded in 1955 and enrolls approximately 200 students from 40 countries who train under a resident core and language faculty, along with adjunct professors from other institutions and organizations across Europe and the world.

“SAIS Europe has taught me that it is vital for leaders to think critically and imaginatively about complex problems that have no easy answers,” James Anderson said. “I believe that it is essential to make it possible for the most talented and engaged students to study with our faculty and each other in Bologna regardless of their ability to pay for it, and to create opportunities to amplify Johns Hopkins’ impact across borders and oceans. I believe in the vision for the university and for SAIS Europe, and I hope others will join me in helping us realize our ambitions.”

James Anderson is an Edinburgh-based investor. He studied at the SAIS Bologna Center for his Master’s in International Affairs and serves as chair of the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe Advisory Council. Anderson recently stepped down as manager of the Baillie Gifford fund after years of successful investing in technology companies such Tesla, Amazon and China’s Alibaba. He and his wife have been active philanthropists for numerous causes, and they have been frequent, longtime supporters of Johns Hopkins.