Ashoka University

Ashoka University is a fully residential university with a focus on the liberal arts in Haryana, India.

The University is a collective philanthropic effort of several leaders from Indian industry, including Pramath Raj Sinha, Founding Dean, Indian School of Business, Ashish Dhawan, CEO, Central Square Foundation, and Vineet Gupta, MD, Jamboree Education; internet entrepreneurs such as Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Executive Vice-Chairman and MD, Info Edge (India), and Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO, Makemytrip; and other names such as Dilip Shangvi, Founder and MD, Sun Pharmaceutical, Amit Chandra, MDBain Capital, and Jerry Rao of Mphasis and Value and Budget Housing Corporation fame.^[2] Ashish Gupta, COO of Evalueserve is also among the founders.

Two scholars are at at the helm of the University’s academic leadership. Historian and author Rudrangshu Mukherjee, who was most recently Editor, The Editorial Pages, of The Telegraph, is the Vice-Chancellor. Andre Beteille, renowned sociologist and Padma Bhushan awardee, is the Chancellor.^[3] The academic council, which guides academic matters, consists of Ramachandra Guha, Kaushik Basu, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Supriya Chaudhuri, Sunil Khilnani and A.K. Shiva Kumar, among others. ^[4]

Ashoka is notified as a private university under the Haryana Private Universities Act of 2006, with full power to award its own degrees, diplomas and doctorates. It commenced its undergraduate program with its first batch of 133 students in August 2014.^[1][5] In addition, the university runs a one-year post-graduate program called the Young India Fellowship. The university is located on a 25-acre campus that is part of the Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Sonepat district, Haryana.

Ashoka University was formally inaugurated by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi on January 31, 2015.

Leadership and Administration

Ashoka University is funded entirely by donations, with no hierarchies present in the founding group in terms of decision making. The group presently includes over 65 entrepreneurs and industry leaders.^[6]

In addition to the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and Deans, Ashoka is guided by an academic council of academics and scholars from around the world. The Council sets the academic standard of the University, advising on matters of curriculum, faculty hiring and research.^[7]

Academic Council

In alphabetical order:

• A.K. Shiva Kumar Member, National Advisory Council; Visiting Professor, Harvard University and Indian School of Business
• Andre Beteille (Chair – also Chancellor) National Research Professor;^[8] Professor Emeritus, Delhi School of Economics
• Christophe Jaffrelot Research Director, CNRS, Sciences Po; Global Scholar, Princeton University
• Devesh Kapur Director, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania
• Kalyanakrishnan Sivaramakrishnan Dinakar Singh Professor of India and South Asian Studies; Co-Director, Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University
• Kaushik Basu Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist, World Bank; Professor, Cornell University
• Kenwyn Smith Professor of Organizational Behavior, Wharton School of Business
• Pratap Bhanu Mehta President and Chief Executive, Centre for Policy Research, India
• Ramachandra Guha Historian and Author of books such as India After Gandhi, Makers of Modern India, Patriots and Partisans and the recent Gandhi Before India
• Rudrangshu Mukherjee (also Vice-Chancellor) Historian and Author of books such as 'Awadh in Revolt, 1857-58: A Study of Popular Resistance’ and ‘Dateline 1857: Revolt Against the Raj’; ex-Editor, The Editorial Pages, The Telegraph (Kolkata)
• Ruma Banerjee Vincent Massey Collegiate Professor and Associate Chair, Biological Chemistry, Medical School, University of Michigan
• Sampath Kannan Henry Salvatori Professor and Chair, Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania
• Sharad Malik Chair, Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University; Associate Director, FCRP Center for Future Architectures Research
• Sunil Khilnani Avantha Professor & Director, King's India Institute, King's College London
• Supriya Chaudhuri Professor Emeritus, Department of English, Jadavpur University
• Vanita Shastri 28-years experience in Boston, United States of Ameria , LSR and PhD

The presence of leading academics from partner universities on the advisory board serves to qualify the University’s claims to have the support of these institutions in the development of its academic curriculum, faculty hiring, setting up of academic departments, etc.^[9]

Collaborations

Ashoka University collaborates with institutions around the world, drawing on their experience to develop its curriculum and practices.

At this time, Ashoka University has active partnerships in place with:

• University of Pennsylvania - One of the oldest universities in the United States, and one of the eight Ivy League institutions; represented by Sampath Kannan of the Department of Computer and Information Science, School of Engineering and Applied Science, whose support has resulted in a formidable Computer Science programme at Ashoka^[10]
• Carleton College - A private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA
• Sciences Po - A public research university, ranked 1 in Europe and 16 in the world for Political and International Studies; represented on Ashoka's Academic Council by Christophe Jaffrelot, Director, CNRS^[11]
• University of Michigan - An elite research university that is also recognized as one of the eight public ivies; represented on Ashoka's Academic Council by Ruma Banerjee of the Medical School^[12]
• King's College, London - A public research university that is one of the oldest universities in England, ranked 19 in the world as per the QS World University Rankings published in 2013; represented on Ashoka's Academic Council by Sunil Khilnani of the King's India Institute^[13]
• University of California, Berkeley- A major public research university located in Berkeley, California. It is the flagship campus of the University of California system.^[14][15]
• Trinity College, Dublin- Established in 1592, it is consistently ranked in the top 100 world universities by the QS World University Rankings, and is the highest ranking university in Ireland. Cutting edge research, technology and innovation places the university at the forefront of higher education in Ireland and globally.^[16]

Official communication states that the University is also in talks with Yale University, University of Oxford for partnership in the future. Its illustrious list of partners has been the subject of a lot of media attention, as it is felt to be commendable for a university in its year of inception.^[17]

History and Vision

The concept of Ashoka University was born in a conversation between some IIT Delhi alumni including Vineet Gupta, Rakesh Jaggi, Ashish Gupta and others, who approached Pramath Sinha for help in setting up a university that would be of a different calibre than that of present higher education in India. In fact, the project was code named Project Nobel, referring to the founders' aspiration for the students to become Nobel Laureates. At the same time, Sanjeev Bhikhchandani and Ashish Dhawan also approached Pramath with a vision of a university, and Pramath fused the two visions together.^[18]

Initial discussions leaned towards setting up an institute of engineering and technology that could perhaps match the reputation of leading institutions in the field such as MIT, Penn and Stanford. This led the Ashoka founders to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Penn.

The conversation was to, however, take a turn towards conceptualizing an institution that would actually go on to focus not on engineering and other vocational disciplines, but rather have a bent towards the core sciences, social sciences and the humanities, or what is popularly called the ‘liberal arts’.^[19] This decision finds its rationale in both industry need, as well as the need to change the mindsets of Indian students and parents to see education as an end in itself, rather than merely as a stepping stone to securing a job.^[20]

It was then decided that Ashoka University will offer a liberal arts education,^[21] nurturing core 21st century skills of critical thinking, communication and leadership, also promoting interdisciplinary education and advanced research in the humanities, social sciences, and the natural and applied sciences.

Young India Fellowship: The Flagship Programme

This form of education was prototyped in the Young India Fellowship, a full-time academic programme that was launched in 2011 with a vision “to develop committed change agents for India through a multi-disciplinary programme guided by eminent scholars and leaders of our time.”^[22] The founding batch had 57 Fellows, all of whom were provided full scholarship. Fellows included graduates and professionals from all walks of life.^[23]

The one-year programme comprises eight terms of six weeks each, with up to three courses in each term. The Fellowship emphasizes writing, research, and experiential learning – in the form of an 8-month part-time internship .^[24]

Courses are taught by faculty from institutions around the world. Classroom learning and discussion is augmented by guest lectures by people from both academia and industry, a list that includes names from the University’s Academic Council, Founders and Trustees, network of Mentors, and others such as Nandan Nilekani, Prannoy Roy, Madeleine Albright, Shaheen Mistry, Arjun Uppal and Mihir Shah.^[25]

The success of graduates in each batch of the YIF has served to increase the popularity of the programme in its subsequent years.^[26] With about a hundred Fellows each in the second and third batches, the YIF now has 200 Fellows in its most recent and fourth batch whose classes are conducted, for the first time, at the newly constructed University campus.

Campus

The 25-acre campus of Ashoka University is in the Rajiv Gandhi Education city in Sonepat, Haryana. The campus has been designed by American design firm, Perkins Eastman.^[27]

See also

• Young India Fellowship

References

1. 1 2 "Ashoka University". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2014-03-02. 
2. ↑ "Ashoka University". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2013-01-01. 
3. ↑ "Ashoka University". The Hindu. Retrieved 2005-12-04. 
4. ↑ "Ashoka University". Times of India. Retrieved 2014-07-05. 
5. ↑ "Ashoka University". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2014-08-02. 
6. ↑ "Ashoka University". Ashoka University website. Retrieved 2014-03-02. 
7. ↑ "Ashoka University". Ashoka University website. Retrieved 2014-03-02. 
8. ↑ "Andre Beteille appointed Ashoka University Chancellor". The Times of India. Retrieved 2014-07-05. 
9. ↑ "Ashoka University's Academic Council". Ashoka University website. Retrieved 2014-07-05. 
10. ↑ "B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science at Ashoka University, developed in collaboration with the Department of Computer and Information Science, Penn". Ashoka University website. Retrieved 2014-07-05. 
11. ↑ "French University extends tie-ups with India". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2014-02-18. 
12. ↑ "Ashoka University inks MoU with University of Michigan". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2014-11-13. 
13. ↑ "King's College plans tie-ups with Indian institutes". The Hindu. Retrieved 2014-01-17. 
14. ↑ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-11-04/news/55757639_1_ashoka-university-rudrangshu-mukherjee-education-system
15. ↑ http://www.theher.in/magazine/university-of-california-berkeley-partners-with-ashoka-university--KDZK59092102.html
16. ↑ http://news.ashoka.edu.in/news/trinity-college-dublin-and-ashoka-university-enter-into-strategic-partnership/
17. ↑ "A New University Offers Liberal Arts as Higher Education Alternative". The New York Times India Ink. Retrieved 2014-11-26. 
18. ↑ "Ashoka University". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2014-04-07. 
19. ↑ "Ashoka University". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2014-08-07. 
20. ↑ "Ashoka University". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2013-12-26. 
21. ↑ "Ashoka University". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2014-08-07. 
22. ↑ "Young India Fellowship". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2014-08-07. 
23. ↑ "Young India Fellowship". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2014-08-07. 
24. ↑ "Young India Fellowship". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2014-08-07. 
25. ↑ "Young India Fellowship". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2014-08-07. 
26. ↑ "Young India Fellowship". Ashoka University. Retrieved 2014-08-07. 
27. ↑ Campus

Coordinates: 28°56′48″N 77°06′06″E / 28.9468°N 77.1016°E / 28.9468; 77.1016