Washington: A campaign has been launched in the US to raise funds for Swami Vivekananda Chair for study of Hinduism at a top university. The Swami Vivekananda Endowed Chair for study of Hinduism at the University of Southern California (USC) in the US would require USD 3.3 million, officials said. California-based Dharma Civilisation Foundation has launched a crowdfunding campaign. Such a move by the Dharma Civilisation Foundation (DCF) comes after it successfully launched Swami Vivekananda Visiting Professorship for the study of Hinduism in 2013.

While several countries have funded chairs in religious studies, India has been lagging behind. China has funded over 70 Confucius Institutes in the US alone and hundreds globally, in addition to dozens of study centres and numerous Chairs. The Saudi royal family has established multiple Chairs, including the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Arkansas, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud Chair of Islamic Studies at the University of California, the King Faisal Chair in Islamic Thought and Culture at USC, as well as the Sultan Programme in Arab Studies at UC, Berkeley.