LSE and Asia

LSE has had connections with Asia via students, teachers and donors ever since its inception in 1895. The Webbs, founders of LSE, went on a tour of the world in 1898, stopping in India on their return leg. They travelled through Asia again in 1911-12, visiting Japan, Korea, China, Malaya, Burma and India.

Of the myriad LSE Asia connections, only a small number can be listed here.

In 1912, the Indian industrialist Ratan Tata gave LSE a generous grant for studying social problems in the UK. This was one example of a rich benefactor from a poor country giving money to LSE for research. This experience was to be repeated when, in 1978, two Japanese industrial houses donated money for the establishment of the Suntory Toyota International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD). The Ratan Tata bequest was replenished in 1996 and has established the Sir Ratan Tata Fellowship. The generosity of LSE's Hong Kong alumni in funding the Sir John Bremridge Directorship of the Asia Research Centre (ARC) demonstrates how LSE alumni from Asia continue to support LSE.

No teacher at LSE has had an impact on Asian politics comparable to Harold Laski's. It is said that when the cabinet of independent India met, there was a chair reserved for Professor Laski. One of his many Indian students, GS Mavlankar, was the first speaker of the Lok Sabha and later helped found the Harold Laski Institute of Politics in Ahmedabad, India. Another Laski student, KR Narayanan, is now President of the Indian Republic.

Richard Tawney wrote a penetrating analysis of the agrarian problem of China, which was studied by LSE alumnus Fei Hsiao Tung, an honorary fellow of LSE and a distinguished anthropologist. China was also the subject of study for anthropologists Maurice Friedman and Isaac Schapera.

Professor SC Tsiang, the architect of Taiwan's economic policy, is an LSE alumnus and an honorary fellow. Dr Vera Anstey of the Economics Department wrote a pioneering book on India's economic development, which went through several editions. Among the famous Indians who graduated from LSE are Dr BR (Babasahab) Ambedkar (honorary fellow), VK Krishna Menon, AK Dasgupta (honorary fellow), Professor KN Raj (honorary fellow), RS Bhatt (honorary fellow), Nitin Desai (currently Undersecretary General, United Nations) and SR Sen (honorary fellow).

The 1998 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Professor Amartya Sen, taught at LSE (1971-78) and is an honorary fellow of the School. So is Professor Partha Dasgupta, who taught at LSE in the 1970s and is now Professor of Economics at Cambridge. Another LSE/ Asia/ Cambridge connection is provided by Professor Lord Bauer, who wrote a pioneering study of the Malayan rubber industry and was Professor of Economics with special reference to developing countries at Cambridge from 1960 until his retirement in 1984. Professor Sir Raymond Firth, a pioneer anthropologist, also did classic work on Malay fisherman while at LSE. Sri Lanka is well represented by Kumari Jayawardene and NM Perera. The former deputy prime minister of Singapore, Goh Keng Swee, is also an LSE alumnus.

Michio Morishima, the distinguished economic theorist, came to LSE in 1972 and was responsible for establishing STICERD. Japanese studies at LSE have been well represented by historian Ian Nish and sociologist Ronald Dore. Historian Donald Watt undertook the massive task of publishing the records of the Japanese war trials in his capacity as official historian.

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