LORD Bilimoria of Chelsea, the India-born founder of Cobra Beer, has been unveiled as new Chancellor at the University of Birmingham.

The peer becomes the seventh Chancellor at the city’s best known campus and follows in the footsteps of the likes of Joseph Chamberlain and former Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

He succeeds Sir Dominic Cadbury, who stepped down last December after 11 years in the role.

Professor David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Lord Bilimoria will be our new Chancellor. He is a highly respected global businessman and crossbench peer with a clear passion for higher education and the value it brings to society and to the economy.”

The Chancellor acts as the ceremonial figurehead of the University and has a key ambassadorial role, working with the Vice-Chancellor and the Pro-Chancellor to raise the University’s profile and advance its interests across the globe.

Lord Bilimoria said: “I am honoured and humbled to have been asked to be Chancellor of this internationally renowned University with its vibrant, global community. I am also delighted to have the opportunity to take on such a prominent role at the University where both my mother, my uncle and my maternal grandfather studied.”