Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

 Launched from New Delhi where the University’s vice chancellor, Professor Alison Richard, was visiting, the Jawaharlal Nehru Professorship of Indian Business and Enterprise will exist within the Judge Business School.

It has been established in celebration of the centenary of Jawaharlal Nehru’s arrival at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in Natural Sciences before going on to become India’s first Prime Minister.

Its purpose is to help forge closer links between the Indian and other international econom-ies and to promote understanding of India’s interests and its place in the world economy.

The University will retain all of the £3.2m benefaction as a permanent endowment and will apply the net income from investment of the sum towards the salary and expenses of the holder of the professorship and associated overheads.

“This professorship reflects the unprecedented world interest and excitement in the new models of business being generated in India,” said Professor Richard.
“The chair also affirms and strengthens Cambridge’s rich links with India historically, today and far into the future.”

The chosen professor will also provide leadership for the creation of a dedicated Cambridge Centre for Indian Business at Judge Business School, which will be formed as a result of a £550,000 contribution by the BP Group. The name of the newly appointed professor will be announced shortly.

This centre will support the work of the professorship and would initially focus on contemporary research themes relating to the modern business environment.

Themes to be covered in the first three years include technology innovation, emerging global economies, the relationship between economic development and the knowledge economy and entrepreneurship.

Professor Arnoud De Meyer, director of the Judge Business School, said: “Recent years have seen a surge of investments into the UK from India, particularly in the IT sector. India is now the second largest investor in the UK from Asia in terms of the number of projects.

“India and the UK are on the path to a healthy bilateral economic and commercial relationship, arising from a common democratic outlook in both countries.

“The centre will serve as a focal point for Indian and UK business and policymakers to work together to promote a better understanding of India’s business interests and its place in the world economy.”

BP’s support of the centre includes funding for the BP India PhD Scholarship for an outstanding graduate student from India to work under the supervision of the newly-appointed Nehru Professor on a research topic agreed with the donor, as well as support for operational costs.

Meanwhile, further Indian investment in the intellectual excellence nurtured by the University was also announced by the country’s best known industrial group, Tata. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see five top students undertaking internships with the company every year.

Part of a wider international initiative that includes a similar MoU with the University of California, Berkeley, Tata – whose revenues in 2007 reached $28,8bn – hopes to provide opportunities for students to work on the firm’s community initiatives in India through the Tata International Social Entrepreneurship Scheme (TISES).

The primary objective of TISES is to provide international students with a chance to work in community projects initiated by  the Tata Group in India and thereby promote international understanding.

As part of the three-year TISES, Berkeley and Cambridge will each identify up to five students from the undergraduate or higher study level, for an eight-week summer internship on Tata Group’s community initiative programmes.
 

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