Businessman donates $8m to his old school "Everything going for it": Terry Snow with Canberra Grammar School students. One of the largest donations to an Australian school has been made in Canberra by businessman and philanthropist Terry Snow, who will give $8 million to Canberra Grammar School to build a new Asian century centre. The Snow centre for education in the Asian century will be completed by mid next year - and will focus on languages, education and engagement in the region. We are educating the first truly global generation. It is believed to be among the largest single gifts from a former student since Melbourne Grammar School received a $10 million bequest from old boy and pastoralist Jack Morrow in the 1990s. Canberra Grammar's new facilities will include an indoor and outdoor amphitheatre for lectures, an exhibition area, open learning spaces, student collaboration pods and video conferencing facilities to link lessons with schools and universities around the world. Principal Justin Garrick said it would be a national resource, hosting a unique centre for research and development in 21st century teaching and learning - to be run in collaboration with the Australian National University's college of Asia and the Pacific and the University of Canberra's faculty of education. Mr Snow said "the vision Justin has outlined is not just about teaching Chinese language but fully embracing and engaging with Asia and the wider world. Grammar has everything going for it: access to intelligent students, local universities with a very strong Asian studies core, situated in Canberra with a community that is more externally-focused because it is the national capital. Mr Snow, whose Canberra Airport Group has been responsible for a $250 million development of the airport, donates about $3.5 million a year to mainly local charities through the Snow Foundation. He and his brothers attended Canberra Grammar, as did his children and, now, his grandchildren. Dr Garrick said: "We are educating the first truly global generation. The students we teach now will live, study and work all over the world and especially in Asia, more than any generation before them ... It's time for Australian school education to move past the rhetoric and get serious about engaging with Asia if our children are to flourish in the century ahead. The centre would be opened for public lectures, summer schools and as a specialist facility for professional learning, educational research and teacher training. Last year just 64 non-native speakers undertook Chinese in the NSW Higher School Certificate - of these, seven were from Canberra Grammar and two came equal first while another came fourth in the state. Six of the seven are studying on scholarships at Chinese universities.