Comparing the Delhi School of Economics with Oxford and Cambridge, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] Wednesday asked the prestigious institution to benchmark globally to retain and attract students from India and abroad.

"I do hope you will continue to attract the best talent from across the world. You must attract your own students back from foreign universities so that students in India can choose with equal confidence between going to Boston, Stanford or Oxford and Cambridge or going to Delhi School," Singh said at the Golden Jubilee function of the DSE.

Dr Singh noted that DSE's benchmarks have always been global and exhorted the faculty and students to continue benchmarking against the world's best.

"Indeed, every institution must adopt global benchmarks. Being the best in India is good, but not good enough. You must be at par with the best in the world," he said.

Recalling his association with the school, Dr Singh said his colleagues at the United Nations in New York were shocked when he decided to join DSE as a teacher and tried to pursuade him to drop the idea.

"I have always wondered whether I did the right thing moving from teaching and into government. Teaching is my first love. I had always wanted to be a teacher. I merely drifted into government, pulled by a sense of duty to the country," the prime minister said.

Dr Singh observed that the DSE had produced great economists and social scientists and called upon the new generation to participate in the debate to achieve the next quantum jump in economic growth and educate the public.