Ram Panda, MEng’71, MBA’77, remembers what it was like to need a helping hand on his own educational journey.
Long before he founded a successful tech firm in Montreal or became a member, and then Chair, of McGill’s Board of Governors, Panda was a struggling engineering student seeking to piece together scholarships and parcels of financial aid to avoid having to interrupt his program.
To this day, he remains grateful for the financial assistance, and all that it helped him achieve, and he has since channeled his desire to give back into various initiatives to support other students in need.
His latest investment: a gift of $500,000 to the recently launched McGill Students and Scholars at Risk Fund, which is providing urgent financial support to international students, postdoctoral fellows, and scholars/researchers who have been displaced by humanitarian crises so they can continue their academic journeys in an environment of safety and stability. The fund provides displaced students with critical support, including tuition waivers, health insurance, scholarships for living expenses, housing, and language support.
Panda has set his gift up to serve as a matching fund, which means that future donors looking to support this cause will have their own funds matched by his gift – doubling their impact – until the initial $500,000 is spent.
We asked Panda to share what inspired his latest gift, and how he hopes to inspire others to “help people in their period of distress.”
Q: How does the Students and Scholars at Risk Fund resonate with you, given your own experience as an international student?
A: When I immigrated to Canada from India to study engineering at McGill, I wasn’t displaced or at risk, but I was certainly in distress. I had only a few dollars in my pocket. The first time I met my advisor, Dr. Eric Adler, I warned him that I didn’t have the resources to go through the program and that I may have to drop out. And he said not to worry, I’ll help you through. He helped arrange a scholarship for me and a teaching assistantship. That help made it possible for me to stay in Montreal and finish my program, and then to go on and do a second degree at McGill, co-found a company that’s doing very well, and give back to society in different ways.
Those who come to McGill have already achieved a certain level of talent or skill or expertise, and it’s just that sometimes they need a hand to get to the next step. If McGill can play a role in that, I think it is fantastic. We all gain from those students who do well, maybe not directly at McGill, but we gain in a societal manner – there’s a multiplier effect.
Q: Through your involvement on the Board of Governors, you have unique insight into McGill’s vision for its Third Century, and where its needs are greatest. What inspired you to support the Students and Scholars at Risk Fund, among so many other compelling initiatives?
A: My thoughts were, how can we invest for the future, and how can I help students? I’ve seen firsthand how people who needed help as students went on to give back in different ways and contribute in a positive manner to the world.
There’s no dearth of talent among the world’s youth. Unfortunately, many of them come from crisis-torn places. It’s Ukraine now; before it was Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Rwanda...the list goes on. We’re not short of these places. All of these countries have talented youth who really would like to come to a safe, peaceful country like Canada, get a good education, and play a pivotal role in the society.
Q: What do you hope to see McGill accomplish through this fund?
A: First and foremost, helping people in their period of distress is the right thing to do. That’s the most important thing.
I don’t think there will be a shortage of crises, unfortunately. More likely we’ll have a shortage of funds that we can help people with. So I hope this fund will continue to grow over a number of years, and that it will continue to be available so that we can help people who need it.
Q: How does this fund reflect McGill’s values and its vision for the future?
A: I think the fund speaks for our community’s sense of universality, a larger care for the world. We’re not parochial, just thinking of our local environment; we think of the world beyond our campus, beyond Canada’s borders. When we help at-risk students to gain an education, we are helping create future leaders who have a unique perspective and a desire to give back. Those we help now will remember the help they received, the opportunities they had, and they’ll want to do something to help and give back when and how they’re able. We are putting a positive process in place, as an investment in the future.
Q: Why did you choose to structure your gift as a match? What would you say to encourage prospective donors to join you in supporting this initiative?
A: The reason I made it a matching gift is to provoke more people to think about contributing. The match is available to enhance a gift of any size, but I think it is especially meaningful to people who have big hearts, who see the purpose of a fund like this and want to help but may only have a limited amount of money to give. They might feel like they can’t make much of a difference with what they are able to give. But sometimes knowing there is money there to enhance their gift, they’ll feel encouraged to say, I can still give. My gift matters.
So I hope that the match will encourage people to pitch in.
Meet Yuliia Holik, one of the first recipients of the McGill Students and Scholars at Risk Fund.