With the aim of increasing its visibility in India, and in order to encourage greater awareness of the Midlands and UK, the University of Birmingham has launched its India Institute center. The institute will enhance the academic, cultural and business ties between the 2 countries.
The University of Birmingham India Institute (UBII) was launched by Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, high commissioner of India, and vice-chancellor Professor Sir David Eastwood.
Professor Eastwood said: “Our India Institute marks an important milestone in our long-standing relationship with India and re-affirms the University of Birmingham’s deep and strong commitment to engagement with the country.”
“From reducing the impact of refrigerated food distribution chains to helping make India’s cities more sustainable cities, our researchers are forging links with their counterparts that will change millions of lives for the better.”
The university’s chancellor Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, who is also the founder and chairman of Cobra Beer, added: “The University of Birmingham is a civic university with a global outlook and there exists a special bond between Birmingham and India, which stretches back to the arrival of our first Indian student in 1909.”
“For me, this is also a personal bond as my mother and my maternal grandfather both studied at the University of Birmingham.”
“I am the third generation of my family to have grown up in India been educated at a British university, and it makes me very proud to see that Birmingham has put its century-long bond with India even further with the launch of the University of Birmingham India Institute.”
“I look forward to deepening relations between our University and partners in India, in education, business and government over the coming years as our new India Institute fosters research and teaching collaborations which benefit both countries.”
“Education and research are a central part of the bond between the UK, which has some of the best universities in the world, and India a global emerging economic superpower, which has some of the oldest.”
The university started it’s journey in India, as early as 1909 when the first batch of Indian students went to Birmingham for their mining and commerce degrees. Since then, it is home to more than 2000 Indian alumni and several of them are established figures in Birmingham. So, this venture will further enhance ties with the Indian diaspora living there.
Source: Insider Media