The University of Cambridge has announced a series of new initiatives aimed at strengthening its academic partnership with India, including new pathways for Indian students to apply for undergraduate study.

The announcements were made during a visit to Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru by a senior Cambridge delegation, as the University aims to expand its partnerships across research, technology, student access, and sport.

Among the announcements is a new admissions route allowing students studying for the CBSE Class 12 qualification to apply to some undergraduate courses. Around 1.7 million students sat these examinations in 2025.

Cambridge is also exploring new scholarship opportunities for talented students from India, with plans to establish a Cambridge India Research Foundation to enable alumni, friends of the University, and members of the public to fund Indian students studying in Cambridge. The foundation also aims to support joint research projects between the UK and India.

The visit also marked the launch of the Cambridge-India Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS), which will serve as a hub for the University’s activities in India. Across several physical sites, the centre will support partnerships in innovation, research, and learning.

The CAS features three elements, including a Centre for Advanced Research and Synthesis, as well as a Knowledge-Policy-Innovation Hub to address knowledge transfer challenges and provide space for collaboration between academics, entrepreneurs, innovators, and decision-makers.

The third strand is a new Learning Hub, focusing on education, scholarships, and mobility programmes for students and staff. One of the first Learning Hub initiatives will be a Real Estate education programme developed in conjunction with the Land Economy Department, with long-term aims to establish India’s first ever School of Real Estate.

On the visit, Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice described the centre as an “exciting opportunity to form collaborations with the best researchers and innovators in India,” adding that it would strengthen ties “with such a rapidly growing knowledge economy” in India.

Professor Bhaskar Vira, Cambridge’s first Indian Pro-Vice-Chancellor, said: “It has been wonderful to see the enthusiasm of our colleagues in Cambridge and our partners in India for the Cambridge-India CAS. I’m looking forward to this next chapter in the relationship between Cambridge and India.”

Lindy Cameron, the British High Commissioner to India, also welcomed the initiatives, stating that they will bring the UK and India’s “world-class research and education even closer together through innovative platforms and channels for collaboration, helping unlock the full potential of our revitalised partnership”.

Alongside these academic and research initiatives, the Cambridge University men’s cricket team will tour India in its pre-season in March 2026 for the first time in 15 years. A visit to India for the women’s team is planned for 2027. The University also plans to host a UK-India partners event at the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity cricket match in London this May.

The men’s cricket captain, Stan Norman, welcomed the partnership, saying: “We’re incredibly excited to be touring India for the first time in 15 years. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the squad to test ourselves against high-quality opposition and develop our skills in different conditions during pre-season, ensuring we’re match ready before heading into important BUCS fixtures and Varsity matches in the summer.”

Following the announcement of the CBSE Class 12 Qualification becoming an acceptable pathway to Cambridge applications, an Indian alumna of Sidney Sussex commented that she was “glad that a pathway opening up Cambridge to CBSE students is being explored, especially since those are the examinations the majority of students here are assessed through”. However, the recent English graduate expressed that “the STEM focus is predictable”.

Nicholas Henderson, from Indian-based application experts ESSAI Education, also welcomed the news, saying: “it makes Cambridge a more global university. It helps recognise the real talent of the world. Every year, 10 million students sit the CBSE, that’s a lot”.

Prakarsh Jhajharia, a first-year economics student at Sidney Sussex, had to take five AP exams on top of his school examinations to apply to Cambridge before the new policy was introduced. He added: “because of the monetary factor […] and the lack of awareness of this policy, a lot of my batchmates in India were not able to apply. The new policy would definitely increase the opportunity for ISC [Indian School Certificate] students”.

India has a strong contingent of well-known Cambridge alumni. This includes novelist Sir Salman Rushdie, Cipla Chairman Yusuf Hamied, and Nobel-prize winning structural biologist Venki Ramakrishnan. Three of India’s prime ministers have studied at Cambridge, including the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.