While Brexit has made entry of Indian researchers to Britain uncertain, Cambridge University is keen to encourage collaborations with Indian universities, said its Vice-Chancellor Leszek Borysiewicz, who delivered a keynote address on ‘Global Collaboration in Academics’ at the Indian Institute of Science on Friday.
“UK at the moment is perceived as restrictive because of its immigration policies and the current political climate, but as a university, we have always been critical of such policies. We want to welcome overseas students and hope to continue to attract excellent talent from India,” said Prof. Borysiewicz.
He said that in today’s age, the ideal of a university as an ‘island of excellence’ is no longer valid as a model for science. “A single institution cannot gain expertise in all fields any more. Even world-class institutions need to harness the power of strategic alliances,” he said. He called for more collaborations across universities, adding that Cambridge University had around 280 collaborations with Indian universities on topics ranging across sciences, arts and humanities.
“We have been involved in research in India on anti-microbial resistance in tuberculosis with institutes in Bengaluru and Chennai, electoral reform in Rajasthan, maize farming in Punjab, nanotechnology, drug discovery, and solar technology,” he said.
Prof. Borysiewicz assured support to the Bangalore-Cambridge Innovation Network, which launched its secretariat at the IISc. this April. Parameshwar P. Iyer, Chairman, Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Licensing, IISc., is spearheading the network, which seeks to improve interactions between Cambridge University and major universities in Bengaluru, such as the Indian Institute of Management, IISc., International Institute of Information Technology, and National Centre for Biological Sciences. "While academic to academic collaborations and industry to industry partnerships are happening between the two cities, we need to improve academic to industry and industry to academic partnerships between Bengaluru and Cambridge," said Dr. Parameshwar.
Science for mankind
Reminiscing his tenure at Cambridge, which ends in 2017, Prof. Borysiewicz said, "Every Vice-Chancellor inherits a wood panelled office filled with mementos from his or her predecessors. There is always a choice to make on what to keep and what not to." There is one memento he is keen to hold on to — a bronze bust of Mahatma Gandhi. "Gandhi was a strong critic of 'science without humanity' and his statue served as a constant reminder to me that the goal of science is to serve mankind," he explained.
