The first Indian students at Oxford University came in 1871 when entry was broadened from members of the Church of England. By 1885, no fewer than 108 Indian barristers had been educated in Britain.

Nearly 140 years on, the population of India has increased nearly fivefold to 1.1 billion and its middle class has swollen to 250 million, but the number of Indian students at Oxford last year was only 257. Despite all the bonds rooted in 89 years of direct colonial rule, Britain does not play a preeminent role in educating modern Indians outside India.

That role lies firmly with the United States, which in 1871 was just recovering from a civil war and continuing the subjugation of its own indigenous population.

Indians still look to Britain for further education, but these days they have the whole world to choose from, and the facts say they are more likely to have studied in Cambridge, Massa-chusetts, than Cambridge, England. Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra and Rahul Bajaj are just three prominent Indian industrialists among Harvard’s alumni.

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BACKGROUND

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The US is the No 1 destination for the sub-continent’s best brains, taking in 88,000 Indian students and scholars each year. India is its biggest source of overseas students. British academic institutions – now as expensive, if not more expensive, than their US peers – take fewer than 20,000.

It is a far cry from the days of the Raj when the likes of Cornelia Sorabji, India’s first female lawyer, K. P. S. Menon, independent India’s first ambassador to China, and C. V. Narasim-han, former undersecretary of the United Nations, rose to prominent positions on the back of an English university education.

Lord Bhattacharyya, professor of manufacturing at the University of Warwick, said: “The US is stealing a march on the UK in accessing a key source of competitive advantage – the brainpower that is emerging from the Indian education system.”

Business may be the main reason for Indians to visit Britain, but if old sympathies rooted in shared histories are to be preserved for the next generation of entrepreneurs, Britain needs to make up lost ground in education or watch the best business leaders continue to migrate from India to the US.

Arun Sarin, chief executive of Voda-fone, and Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo, were both born in India, but their later-stage educations, and hence their careers, were shaped by America – at Berkeley and Yale, respectively.

The British education establishment and the corporate world that it feeds have woken up to this threat.

“Harvard and Stanford certainly have a big appeal for Indian students and places like Australia and Singa-pore are also vying for a piece of the cake, but Oxbridge is making a big effort through scholarships and visits to India and I think it is having an effect,” says A. A. Baig, honorary president of the Oxford and Cambridge Society of India.

After a 60-year hiatus, the links between Indian business and British education are getting closer. Aditya Birla, a cement and chemicals conglomerate, sponsors an India centre at the London Business School, while the Confederation of Indian Industry is collaborating with Imperial College on science and innovation. Mr Tata was this month made an honorary fellow of the London School of Economics.

Lord Bhattacharyya said: “Indian business leaders are imaginative enough to fund scholarships if they see a real benefit. Where commerce goes, educational partnerships must surely follow.

“Two decades ago, to most British educationists, Delhi and Mumbai [Bombay] seemed as distant in relevance as the Raj was in time. That attitude is being transformed as India’s economic presence in the UK expands.”

More, however, could still be done. Although Britain is increasingly courting India’s students, it still attracts almost as many from Greece, a country of far less size and geopolitical importance.

London is leading the charge in trying to rectify the imbalance. Oxford and Cambridge still have incredible cachet, but most Indian students are heading to the UK capital for further education.

International students numbering 86,000 bring an estimated £1.5 billion to London each year, supporting 44,000 jobs. Of this, India is worth £60 million, according to London Higher, the body promoting London’s higher education sector. Three quarters of Indian students are postgraduate, spending on average £10,000 a year on fees.

“India is seen as the honey pot – they bring money and a lifelong relationship,” Kevin McCarthy, director of London Higher’s Study London campaign said.

Education also brings fringe benefits. Students have big extended families back in India and, swayed by the availability of cheaper direct flights, they now have good reason to visit Britain.

Given the potential, it is no surprise that Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, has declared a closer economic relationship with India a priority for his 2007 emerging markets strategy.

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