Somerville College, Oxford Confers Foundation Fellowship on N. Chandrasekaran

London : Somerville College at the University of Oxford has conferred its highest philanthropic honour, the Foundation Fellowship, on Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons. The honour was formally bestowed on September 23 in recognition of Mr. Chandrasekaran’s pivotal role in supporting the College’s new flagship teaching and learning hub, the Ratan Tata Building.

The fellowship, awarded by the Governing Body and outgoing Principal Baroness Jan Royall earlier this year, acknowledges Mr. Chandrasekaran’s contributions in strengthening academic collaboration between Oxford and India. The new Ratan Tata Building will serve as the permanent home of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development (OICSD), which since 2013 has conducted pioneering research on sustainability and development challenges affecting India and the wider world.

The conferral ceremony was attended by Oxford Vice-Chancellor Professor Irene Tracey, India’s High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami, Varun Chandra, the UK Prime Minister’s Special Adviser on Business and Investment, and senior colleagues from the Tata Group.

“Chairman Chandrasekaran is a shining testament to the power of meritocracy and just how much can be achieved through intellect and hard work,” said Catherine Royle, Principal of Somerville College. “This honour reflects his role in deepening the partnership between Somerville, the OICSD, and the Tata Group.”

Mr. Chandrasekaran, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Sciences from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology and a Master of Computer Applications from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, has spent his career with the Tata Group. Rising through Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), where he served as Chairman, he later assumed leadership of several Tata Group companies before being appointed Chairman of Tata Sons and the Tata Group, India’s largest business conglomerate.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Chandrasekaran described Somerville College as “a rare institution quietly blazing a trail on behalf of the most pressing social causes facing our world for almost 150 years.” He added that the OICSD’s interdisciplinary work “creates an enduring bridge between Oxford and India” and expressed confidence that the partnership would continue to address global environmental and social challenges in the years ahead.