Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren to visit Oxford University; focus on student and academic development

NEW DELHI: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who is set to visit the University of Oxford later this month, will engage with academic institutions, including St John's College, in the UK, officials said on Saturday. During the tour of Europe, he is also scheduled to participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos, they said.

"The Oxford engagement is part of a broader official visit to the United Kingdom by a high-level delegation from the Jharkhand government, following the state's participation in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos from January 18 to 24," an official said. Soren will lead the state delegation in Europe.

"During the Oxford programme, Soren will engage with academic institutions, including St John's College and All Souls College, and deliver a special lecture, followed by discussion at the Blavatnik School of Government, a leading global institution focused on public policy and governance," the official said. These engagements place "Jharkhand's contemporary priorities around inclusive development, education, institutional capacity and leadership within international policy and academic exchanges", he said.

Jharkhand focuses on education, leadership, governance

The programmes reflect Jharkhand's effort to place education, leadership and institutional strengthening at the centre of its governance agenda, the official said. The chief minister's visit to Oxford assumes significance, he said, adding that "Soren will deliver a special lecture followed by discussion at the Blavatnik School of Government".

"The Oxford connection with the state began over a century ago. In 1922, Jaipal Singh Munda, born in the Chotanagpur region of present-day Jharkhand, arrived at Oxford as a student of St John's College. An Adivasi from the Munda community, his journey to Oxford was exceptional for its time," another official said. Under colonial rule, access to global higher education was largely closed to indigenous and marginalised communities, but Munda's presence at Oxford represented an early breach of those barriers, he added.

At Oxford, Munda studied philosophy, politics and economics, served as the president of the Oxford Union Debating Society, and represented the university in hockey. After returning home, Munda emerged as one of the most articulate and uncompromising voices for Adivasi (indigenous) rights, represented indigenous communities in the Constituent Assembly, and played a central role in the political movement that culminated in the creation of Jharkhand in 2000. "Within Oxford, Jaipal Singh Munda is recognised as one of its distinguished alumni. His name is recorded in St John's College's institutional memory, including its alumni archives and Hall of Fame, for academic achievement, sporting excellence and public leadership," another official said.

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Scholarships expand global education access

In Jharkhand, Munda is remembered as Marang Gomke, the great leader, whose ideas of dignity, land rights and self-rule continue to shape the state's moral and political foundations, he said. Through the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Overseas Scholarship and the Chevening Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Scholarship, the state has institutionalised access to international education for students from Scheduled Tribes and other historically marginalised communities, the officials said.

These initiatives are designed as "long-term investments in human capital", ensuring that global academic exposure strengthens public institutions, policy capability and leadership in Jharkhand, they said. In 2012, Jaipal Singh Munda's contribution was formally revisited within the University of Oxford through documented academic scholarship, including work by Professor Richard Gombrich, they said. Terming the CM's visit a continuation of an unfinished project, they said it will "bring Jharkhand back into conversation with institutions that once shaped one of its founding thinkers, now on the state's own terms, as a democratic government engaging with global centres of learning".

"As Jharkhand marks twenty-five years of statehood, this visit signals a clear position. The future of the state must be built on education, capability, and access to creating pathways where talent from Jharkhand can move confidently across global institutions and return with knowledge, networks, and public purpose," one of the officials said. The Jharkhand cabinet on Friday cleared a proposal for a delegation led by the chief minister to attend the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) summit at Davos, and a subsequent visit to the UK.