One of the East Midlands' leading businessmen, Lord Glendonbrook (formerly Sir Michael Bishop), has donated £1million to Loughborough University.

The gift will allow the University to establish the Glendonbrook Centre for Enterprise Education and to set up a number of doctoral fellowships, enabling Loughborough to continue attracting the very best postgraduate students.

The Glendonbrook Centre for Enterprise Education will be located within the University's School of Business and Economics. It will allow students, staff and members of the local community who have promising business ideas to tap into the University's wealth of academic research and entrepreneurial expertise.

"We need to encourage innovation and create new businesses if we are to build long-term stability in the East Midlands," said Professor Angus Laing, Dean of the School of Business and Economics. "This generous gift from Lord Glendonbrook will allow us to set up an ambitious programme of enterprise education, which in turn will foster new business ideas - the perfect antidote to the current economic climate."

The Glendonbrook Doctoral Fellowships will provide full funding to postgraduate students studying for a PhD at the University.

Professor John Feather, Director of the University's Graduate School, said: "We are operating in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The Glendonbrook Doctoral Fellowships will help Loughborough to cement its place among the leading research universities in the world and ensure that it can continue to recruit the very best postgraduate students from both the UK and overseas."

Lord Glendonbrook is the former owner of BMI. He has also been chairman of Channel 4 and director of Airtours (now renamed MyTravel). He was awarded the CBE in 1986, knighted in 1991 and received an Honorary Degree from Loughborough University in 1989. He was also one of two eminent East Midlands' names to be appointed as peers in October 2010, the other being Ruth Lister, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at Loughborough University.

Lord Glendonbrook is no stranger to philanthropic giving. His charitable trust, the Michael Bishop Foundation, supports a range of organisations across the arts, education and health sectors, including the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, Cancer Research, The Terrence Higgins Trust, and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Trust.

Loughborough's Vice Chancellor, Professor Shirley Pearce, said the University is deeply indebted to Lord Glendonbrook for his extraordinary generosity.

"Lord Glendonbrook's donation highlights the very important role that universities play in the local economy. It is especially gratifying to see a local businessman give back to help others in our community, and it is my hope that Lord Glendonbrook's example will be followed by others," she said.