Tony Blair will teach his first class at Yale today marking the start of the "Faith and Globalisation Initiative," a three-year collaboration among Yale's Divinity School, School of Management and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

The course will explore a set of issues concerning the public roles of religious faiths in the context of globalisation. The potential of religious faith to bring the world's people together rather than drive them apart will be explored through the seminar and made available to a world audience through a multi-media website.

Tony Blair, who has been appointed a Howland Distinguished Fellow, will co-teach the seminar with Professor Miroslav Volf, the director of the Yale Divinity School's Center for Faith and Culture.

Speaking to the Yale Daily News before his first class, Mr Blair said: "I'm sort of a bit nervous for it, really. I was never a star student, and I'm coming along mixing with a whole lot of people who I'm sure are a whole lot more clever and smarter than I am.

"There's an opportunity here to do something that is really new and different and far-reaching in its effect," he added.

"These issues have to be explored in depth, not just through making speeches but through interacting with young people who are interested in the same topics," Mr Blair said. "The chance to actually come to such a great institution as Yale and be able to interact with students -- for me, it's a tremendous privilege."

You can read the full interview with the Yale Daily News HERE