China Jilin University received a 310 million yuan ($50 million) donation to upgrade the school’s infrastructure and to set up special funds for its outstanding students, the university announced Tuesday, Dec 2.

The donation, the largest ever received by the university, was made by Livon Group, a Changchun-based real estate company.

It is, to date, one of largest ever gifts for a single Chinese university. Part of the gift will go toward upgrading the university’s buildings.

"We are planning to build up an engineering student’s training center, and one research center for rising interdisciplinary fields," said Li Yuanyuan, president of Jilin University.

Part of the donation will go to student priorities and will be awarded to top students in the areas of arts, physics, business innovation and academic performance. The rest will be used for endowing professorships at Jilin University, for recruiting renowned scholars from home and abroad.

Commenting on the significance of the large donation, Jilin University’s president said, "The financial gift surely contributes to our university’s overall development."

He also assured that the school would make good use of the donation.

In fact, more and more China-based universities have received financial gifts from benefactors. Internationally, donations are considered an important measure of a university's quality. According to US News & World Report, an American magazine that ranks US universities yearly, donations are an important criterion in college ranking.