Tata has a long and cherished association with UK academia that dates back to the establishment of the Sir Ratan Tata Department at the London School of Economics in 1912. Subsequently called the Department of Social Sciences, it was set up to research the causes of poverty. Its first lecturer, Clement Attlee, went on to become the British prime minister who gave India its independence and also set up the British National Health Service.

Tata has maintained close links with the London School of Economics through a research collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India’s premier institution of advanced instruction and research in the areas of science and technology.

In 1920, the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge moved to its current Trumpington Street site thanks to a donation from Sir Dorabji Tata, an alumnus of the institution. The site remains the prime location for teaching and much of the Department's research.

Today, Tata continues to forge new links with the UK’s leading academic institutions.

Tata International Social Entrepreneurship Scheme (ISES) began in 2008 as a two-month social internship programme for international students from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2010, the London School of Economics (LSE), UK, joined hands with Tata ISES to enable its students to be part of the programme. The students are selected for an eight-week summer internship at different Tata community initiatives in India.

In 2008, the group brought its hugely successful Tata Crucible campus quiz to the UK. The competition is a knowledge initiative that seeks to engage with youth, encouraging lateral associations, speed of thought and thinking outside the box. The 2010-11 edition of the Tata Crucible saw over 125 students representing more than 20 leading UK universities participate, including London Business School, LSE, Oxford and Cambridge.

Tata helped launch and continues to support the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE). Set up as the National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs in 2009, NACUE seeks to drive the growth of entrepreneurship across all higher education institutions in the UK. The organisation represents over 70 enterprise societies and supports over 100 colleges and universities.