The new school of management at AMU will be focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and ethical business leadership, while the endowed chair will focus on international collaboration. This will include faculty and students exchange programme with some universities and business schools in North America and other international universities.

Mr Islam said, “I was naming the technical college for girls in Azamgarh after my mother who always stressed the need for education and getting advanced degrees - even though she did not have one herself. She could not be called a member of the women’s liberation movement but she was a liberator of the human potential.” As women in India still lag in the educational area beyond high school, Mr Islam said: “They need to develop 21st century skills in order to be successful and to make their fullest contribution to their families and India in the 21st century.”

The Qumran Nisan College will provide technical, vocational and professional education at the post-secondary level and help women develop those 21st century competencies. Mr Islam said he was still awaiting approval from the Indian Home Ministry under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to allow him to send funds to India for the building. “I am hoping we can secure that soon to bring this important initiative to fruition.” Islam said he had also made a significant contribution to the US Institute of Peace (USIP) because President John Kennedy is his role model as he was a man of peace who called upon us all to get involved and to make a positive difference in our country and the world.

“Another reason for being involved with USIP is my faith. Being a Muslim has taught me many things - but the most important is that the whole purpose of religion is to provide justice and a path to justice for all of us,” he said.