Oxford University, the oldest varsity in the English speaking world, may be breaking new ground with plans to set up its first business research centre outside the United Kingdom in India to study the sub-continent nation's rapidly expanding economy.
The university will invest 10 million pounds initially to set up its first business research centre, which will study a wide span of issues in the country starting from infrastructure and education to social entrepreneurship and business taxation, Oxford 'SAID Business School' Dean Prof Colin Mayer told PTI.
"This is the first centre outside UK and will be a huge commitment as far as Oxford is concerned. There will be a study centre in Oxford that will lead the research works in India," he said.
The centre is expected to be operational by next year.
"For outsiders, the growth of India is a lesson to learn and for the country, there are a lot of challenges. We are bringing in international attention to the success of India and trying to involve the policy makers and the corporate India to address issues related to infrastructure and education in the country," Mayer said.
The Oxford's India centre will have representatives from the business world as well as from the policy decision makers, he added.
"The policy makers and the business heads will guide the centre. We are in the process of designing the nature of advisory board of the center in India," Mayer said.
Maintaining that the country has got a lot of entrepreneurship excellence, Mayer said Oxford has plans to polish those skills.
"As the next step, we will be training the entrepreneurship talent in India. The country has got a huge managerial expertise and entrepreneurship skills," he said.
While Oxford is one of Britain's oldest and most prestigious varsities, the SAID Business School was established as recently as 1996, but is today among Europe's fastest-growing B-schools.
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