Dr. Dre, Iovine donate $70M for university arts, tech centre

Hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, and music industry entrepreneur Jimmy Iovine have donated a combined $70 million US to create a new institute at the University of Southern California, the school announced Tuesday night.

The huge gift from the two who have been music business partners in the past will be used to create the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation.

The academy will provide a special four-year program for undergraduates whose interests span several fields from marketing to computer science to visual design and other arts. It will include one-on-one faculty mentoring with professors from programs around the university and interaction with entertainment industry luminaries.

"The vision and generosity of Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young will profoundly influence the way all of us perceive and experience artistic media," USC President C. L. Max Nikias said in a statement.

"We are committed to encouraging our students to use their intellectual and creative resources to effect change in all segments of society. Our goal is to ensure that the academy is the most collaborative educational program in the world."

The academy will accept its first class of 25 students in the fall of 2014.

Iovine is the co-founder of Interscope Records, chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M and a mentor on American Idol.

Dr. Dre is best known as a Grammy Award-winning producer, rapper and co-owner of Death Row records. He later started his own record label, Aftermath Entertainment.