Ashoka University

Ashoka University

Type	Private
Established	2014
Chancellor	Rudrangshu Mukherjee
Vice-Chancellor	Malabika Sarkar
Location	Sonepat , Haryana , India
Campus	25 acres (10 ha)
Colours	Ashoka University Red   Ashoka University Blue
Affiliations	UGC, ACU[1]
Website	www.ashoka.edu.in

Ashoka University is a private university located in Sonipat, Haryana, India, focusing on liberal arts and sciences. It was established in 2014 by a group of philanthropists.

History[]

Ashoka University derives its name from Emperor Ashoka.^[2] The idea was generated while in talks with IIT Delhi students. They later approached the former Indian School of Business dean Pramath Raj Sinha for his help in setting up a university that would be of a different calibre than that of the then higher education in India. The project was code-named Project Nobel,^[3] referring to the founders' aspiration to produce future Nobel Prize laureates. At the same time, Sanjeev Bikhchandani and Ashish Dhawan also approached Pramath with a vision of a university, and Pramath combined the two visions.^[4]

Initial discussions leaned towards setting up an institute of engineering and technology that could match the reputation of leading institutions in the field such as MIT, the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University. Ashoka's founders signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. The founders' list named 22 people, including Ashok Trivedi, Dilip Shanghvi, Nirmal Jain, Sanjeev Bikhchandani and Jerry Rao.^[5][6] The list later grew to 46.

Ashoka expanded its focus to a liberal arts approach, providing instruction in the core sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.^[7][8] The decision was a result of both the industry demand as well as the desire to change the mindset of Indian students and parents to see education as an end in itself, rather than merely a stepping stone to securing a job.^[9] Trivedi fortified this decision by setting up the Trivedi Centre for Political Data (TCPD) in partnership with the University of Michigan.^[10] In 2020, Ashoka university established the Trivedi School of Biosciences with virologist Shahid Jameel as the first director of the centre.^[11]

Campus[]

Ashoka University's 25-acre (10 ha) main campus is in the Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Sonepat, Haryana. It was designed by the American design firm Perkins Eastman^[12] led by architect Aaron Schwarz.^[13] In September 2021, the foundation stone was laid for a new 27-acre campus in Sonipat, expected to be operational by 2027, which will double the university's student capacity.^[14]

Governance[]

Ashoka University is funded entirely by donations, with no hierarchies present in the founding group in terms of decision-making. The founders were drawn to the idea of a university where no single individual held sway, but whose administration would be driven by the potential for social change based on critical inquiry, free from political pressure.^[15] 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 university's academic standard, advising on matters of curriculum, faculty hiring and research.^[16]

The first chancellor was Andre Beteille, who served from 2014.^[17] The first vice-chancellor was Rudrangshu Mukherjee.^[18] In 2017 Beteille resigned, to be replaced by Mukherjee, and Pratap Bhanu Mehta was appointed vice-chancellor from July 2017.^[19] Mehta resigned in July 2019 and was replaced by Malabika Sarkar.^[20] Mehta resigned from the staff in 2021.^[21]

Academics[]

Undergraduate programme[]

Ashoka University offers a full-time residential multidisciplinary 3 (+ 1) year undergraduate programme. Students are encouraged to extend one more year after the standard three and do further in-depth research in their chosen major under the guidance of a faculty member, completing the standard 4-year university education, which many universities abroad require to admit students to their doctoral research programmes. This additional year is known as the Ashoka Scholars Programme (ASP). The university's first class, inducted in 2014, graduated in May 2017. It had about 120 students.^{[22][citation needed]}

The admission procedure includes an application form, an on-spot essay, an interview, and an optional aptitude objective test. During the admission of students into Ashoka's UG programme, students are not required to declare their major and may experiment with their course preferences. Only after the third semester does the school require students to declare a major.^{[23][citation needed]}

Young India Fellowship[]

The Young India Fellowship is a one-year postgraduate programme that was launched in 2011.^[24] Its first graduating class included 57 Fellows, all of whom were provided a full scholarship.^[25] The programme comprises eight terms of six weeks each, with up to four courses in each term. The Fellowship emphasizes writing, research, and experiential learning—in the form of an 8-month part-time Experiential Learning Module.^[26] The application for the fellowship has an age restriction and it only allows students with maximum 28 years of age to apply for the program.^[27]

Admission[]

Ashoka has its own admissions test, called the Ashoka Aptitude Test. It also accepts the SAT from domestic applicants, one of the first universities in India to do so. Students are welcome to take either test without prejudice.^[28] Ashoka University is a Founding Member institution of the India Global Higher Education Alliance, which addresses how admissions policies among Indian and non-Indian institutions influence access and equity in higher education.^[29]

Centres at Ashoka[]

Ashoka University has several centres on vital issues and subjects:^[30]

• Ashoka Centre for Well-Being
• Centre for China Studies
• Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability
• Centre for Economic Data and Analysis
• Centre for Entrepreneurship
• Centre for Interdisciplinary Archaeological Research
• Centre for Social and Behaviour Change
• Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy
• Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexuality
• Centre for Writing and Communication
• Science Policy Initiative
• Trivedi Centre for Political Data

Controversies[]

In October 2016, a faculty member, Rajendran Narayanan, and two other employees resigned; it was alleged by the Faculty Council that they were asked to resign because they signed a petition on Kashmir, something the university denies.^[31] Narayanan believes he was targeted because he was also organising a Workers' Welfare Committee for all campus staff.^[32]

In March 2021, two faculty members, Pratap Bhanu Mehta (formerly the VC of the university) and Arvind Subramanian, resigned within days of each other, alleging a curbing of academic freedom in the university.^[33] Mehta has been an open advocate of liberalism, speaking openly about the 'Death of liberalism' under the Narendra Modi Government.^[34] He resigned from Ashoka University in March 2021, when trustees Pramath Raj Sinha and Ashish Dhawan are said to have told him that his "intellectual interventions were something they could no longer protect."^[35] This was followed by protests from students and faculty, who alleged that Mehta's views on the Modi administration might have drawn pressure internally, leading him to resign.^[36] But the vice-chancellor denied that.^[33]

See also[]

• List of private universities in India

References[]

External links[]

• Official website

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