In an effort to expand its presence in India, Cambridge University is now looking to secure high-level partnerships in the areas of drug discovery and disease management in the country. Talking to the media, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (vice-chancellor, Cambridge University) expressed his interest in cementing a long-term association with high-quality players in India.

In an interview with the PTI here, Borysiewicz pointed out that partnerships are the key to Cambridge remaining a successful university worldwide. According to him, many issues such as food security and management of chronic diseases are shared problems of India and the UK. Briefing about the issue he said, “So, finding shared solutions is going to be important, but the project model can’t give them the time that it takes to develop it. By establishing partnerships, which I am really interested in doing, we will try to work together to find solutions.”

He also noted that the university is holding discussions with Indian players in an effort to find drugs to fight cancer and other infectious diseases, apart from interacting with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Biotechnology.
Over the years, the Cambridge-India Partnership Advisory Group (CIPAG) and the Cambridge-India Partnership Operational Group (CIPOG) have been quite instrumental in strengthening ties between Cambridge and India.

At present, according to the university’s website, there are about 270 active projects between India and Cambridge and more than 1,000 Cambridge alumni, operating in six cities––Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune.