Music Moguls Give $70m for Californian Arts College

Hit U.S. music producers Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine have donated $70 million to the University of Southern California (USC), to found an arts and business academy, its president announced Wednesday.

The USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation will enroll its first class of 25 students in fall next year, said the Los Angeles based university.

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

"Our goal is to ensure that the academy is the most collaborative educational program in the world," he added.

"I feel like this is the biggest, most exciting and probably the most important thing that I've done in my career," Dre -- real name Andre Young -- told the New York Times.

Dr Dre has worked with musicians including Eminem, Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake. Iovine is the chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, whose artists have included Dr Dre.

The pair are the latest entertainment industry figures to donate money to the USC, after "Star Wars" creator George Lucas gave $175 million in 2006 and filmmaker Robert Zemeckis $5 million last year, the LA Times reported.