The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that on Thursday billionaire Stephen Smith announced the largest pledge ever made to a domestic engineering school, a $100-million gift designed to boost Queen's University's engineering school, his alma mater, to the top ranks of global programs. The Globe's Andrew Willis writes that eight years ago, the 72-year-old entrepreneur gave $50-million to what is now the Kingston university's Smith School of Business. Across Canada, a handful of major donors such as Mr. Smith are helping universities deal with a financial crunch. Since 2019, the number of donors to postsecondary institutions fell by 4 per cent. Mr. Smith's donations to Queen's are among the largest ever made to a domestic university, as entrepreneurs boost the size of their gifts to build globally competitive institutions. To date, the largest donation was made by James Temerty, founder of green energy pioneer Northland Power, who gave $250-million to the University of Toronto in 2020 to finance the medical school that now bears his name. The previous year, Onex founder Gerry Schwartz and Indigo Books and Music chief executive officer Heather Reisman gave $100-million to the University of Toronto.