Professor Alison Richard, Vice–Chancellor of the University of Cambridge is clearly excited with the progress of her maiden India tour. Her University’s ‘India connection’ is long and illustrious.

Nearly 800 years old, it boasts of several eminent Indian personalities, such as Jawarharlal Nehru, Amartya Sen and our current Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, as part of its alumni.

Ms Richard is just back from Delhi where she announced the launch of the ‘Cambridge Centre for Indian Business’ with Cambridge’s Judge Business School, ranked 3rd in the 2007 Forbes Global Rankings.

The University is in the process of finalising on the Professor who will head the centre and who will also be the beneficiary of the very generous contribution made by the Indian Government towards the Professorship.

In an interview with Deccan Herald Ms Richard talks about ‘innovative eco-systems’, the fascinatingly diverse student life at the University and much more.

How many Indians are currently enrolled in the business programme?

Amongst the 500 students at Judge Business School, about 15% are Indians. It is the single largest community on campus.

The school has a strong international flavour. In fact, we have an exchange programme going on with the Indian School of Business at Hyderabad.

Are there any scholarships available for Indian students in particular?

The Cambridge Nehru Trust has been sponsoring Indian students for quite sometime now. Then there’s the Common Wealth Overseas Trust and the very prestigious Gates foundation, which fully covers graduates. Of the 200 Indian students on campus, 123 of them are funded with 15 completely so; an impressive number for any country.

What would be Judge Business School’s most marketable point?

Unlike other business schools which often sit in isolation, the JBS is situated within the University’s thriving campus. Students stand to gain a lot from their interaction around and outside the campus.

It’s a fascinating and invigorating atmosphere on campus. In fact, an alumnus that I met here, told me that the reason he choose Cambridge was just this fact!

What impression has Bangalore made on you so far?

I see a strong similarity between here and what we see everyday at the University.
At both places you rub shoulders with entrepreneurs, academia and established business houses all the time. It’s what I call an ‘Innovative Eco-system’.
We have just signed an MoU with CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) to find ways to leverage this almost blinding entrepreneurial energy at both places.

Do you see the recently revised UK Immigration Laws as having a negative impact on the inflow of foreign students?

I hope not! It is unfortunate, this tension, but then in the light of the very real security threats, it is to be expected I guess. I would like to add that contrary to popular belief that things are only getting worse for overseas students, a law that did not allow students of various disciplines to stay on in the UK after the completion of their course, has been changed. So things are improving, yes.

We have also just signed MoUs with AstraZenenca and NCBS to bring in research students from the UK to India for internships.

If that works, we will soon being seeing the traditional student movement (that of Indians visiting UK) reverse.

Anything else you hope from your visit here?

Yes, that would be to reach out to our 1,200 strong alumni in India. At a dinner we hosted recently for them, we had people drive all night just to be there.

That’s the passion we like to see. A school’s alumni is after all its best ambassador.