Introduction

For over 150 years, the University of Cambridge has valued its close relationship with India. From the mid-nineteenth century, when the first students from India arrived in Cambridge, scholarship and lasting friendships have been the foundation of academic partnership.

Three Indian Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, were educated at Cambridge, and in turn the University is now home to distinguished academics from India, including Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta (Economics), Professor Ashok Venkitaraman (Cancer Research), and Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Molecular Biology).

Building on the recognition of our shared past and a rapidly developing future, engagement with India is a key priority for Cambridge, commensurate with the University’s mission ‘to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence’.

For a map showing the breadth and depth of Cambridge's engagement with India, please click here.

Key principles

1. The University's institutional relationships with Indian partners are based upon the pursuit of excellence. The basis of a partnership will be driven by significant academic collaborations.

2. Mutual academic benefit, supporting research beyond the scope of a project based in Cambridge, will be a key determinant.

3. The University of Cambridge will continue to engage with politicians and government funding agencies in India and the UK, as well as Cambridge alumni, to reinforce our commitment to work with India on addressing critical issues of mutual concern. We believe this approach will benefit from Cambridge’s extensive expertise in research discovery and analysis, provided at the highest level, and more specifically, by drawing conclusions by incorporating disciplines across the Sciences and Humanities.

4. Cambridge’s India Strategy is part of a wider effort to facilitate large, multi-disciplinary projects with an international dimension to support new intellectual and strategic developments in the University.