Ashoka University UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMICS
UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMICS
Ashoka University offers a multidisciplinary undergraduate programme, in the interest of exposing students to many different perspectives in and out of the classroom. Students are not expected to declare their Major until the middle of the second year, and this is so they get plenty of time to try out various possibilities, to pursue extra-curricular and co-curricular interests, to discover new passions, and perhaps to change the trajectory of their lives.
The University offers Majors in 9 subjects and Interdisciplinary Majors in a further 8 subjects, thereby offering students a total of 17 options to Major in. They can also pick Minors from among 15 courses on offer.
To graduate with a Bachelor’s degree from Ashoka University, students must pass courses that are broadly divided into three categories – Foundation Courses, Major Courses (including Interdisciplinary Majors) and Co-Curricular Courses. Each course carries credit points, and in order to earn their degree at the end of three years, students need to have accumulated 100 credit points.
Course Structure
To graduate with a Bachelor’s degree from Ashoka University, students must pass courses that are broadly divided into three categories – Foundation Courses, Major Courses (including Interdisciplinary Majors) and Co-Curricular Courses. Each course carries credit points, and in order to earn their degree at the end of three years, students need to have accumulated 100 credit points. The course divisions and credits they need to acquire within three years are as follows:
- 9 Foundation Courses (48 credits)
- 15 Major Courses (48 credits)
- 2 Co-Curricular Courses (4 credits)
Students can also take additional courses during the three years. Students working towards an Interdisciplinary Major must take a total of 19 (64 credits) courses – i.e. four courses more than what is required for a normal Major – in an approved interdisciplinary field. A number of Minors are also offered at Ashoka. To qualify for a Minor, students must take 6 courses (24 credits) in a subject outside their field of specialization for a Major.
In order to ease students into the programme, in their first semester, all Ashoka students must take only 4 courses. After that, students can take up to 5 courses per semester. Added to this are the Co-Curricular Courses, which can be taken in any semester across the three years.
Foundation Courses
Ashoka University requires each student to take 9 Foundation Courses. Of these, 2 are Critical Thinking Seminars and 7 are other Foundation Courses.
These courses are not formal gateways into the Major programmes. However, it is advisable for students to take as many of these courses as they can before declaring a Major. There is no specific order in which students have to take the Foundation Courses. Apart from the Introduction to Critical Thinking (first semester) and one Critical Thinking Seminars(second semester), they can take the other 7 Foundation Courses whenever they want.
Critical Thinking Seminars
Writing, communication and critical thinking are the cornerstones of Ashoka’s academic culture. All students who graduate from Ashoka are expected to acquire superior skills in organizing their thoughts both orally and in writing; indeed, Ashoka students are discouraged from rote learning and, instead, critically engage and reshape concepts through questioning and writing. The platform for these skills is provided by Ashoka's unique three-semester Critical Thinking sequence. In each of their first two semesters, Ashoka students take a Critical Thinking seminar distinguished by small class size, close faculty attention to students' writing, communication and thinking processes, and individualized tutoring at Ashoka’s Centre for Writing and Communication. All students at Ashoka take a mandatory first-semester gateway course, Introduction to Critical Thinking; over the next semester, they take anyone writing-intensive Critical Thinking Seminar electives within a wide variety of disciplines ranging from the Humanities and Social Sciences to the Natural and Applied Sciences.
Majors
A Major is the subject in which a student will earn a Bachelors’ degree – either a B.A. or a B.Sc. Although students can take courses toward their specialisation before formally declaring the Major at the end of the third semester, it is only in the last three semesters that they will be taking courses predominantly in their Major subject. Normally, 15 courses are required to complete a Major in a subject; 19 courses are required to complete an Interdisciplinary Major.
The Interdisciplinary major at Ashoka goes beyond the traditional boundaries of disciplines and departments to give students an opportunity to combine multiple academic interests into a single degree programme. While these are not double-degree programmes, they combine related fields and explore new approaches to the study of particular fields to give students a single, interdisciplinary Bachelors’ degree. Ashoka offers the following interdisciplinary programmes.
The Interdisciplinary major at Ashoka goes beyond the traditional boundaries of disciplines and departments to give students an opportunity to combine multiple academic interests into a single degree programme. While these are not double-degree programmes, they combine related fields and explore new approaches to the study of particular fields to give students a single, interdisciplinary Bachelors’ degree. Ashoka offers the following interdisciplinary programmes.
Majors at Ashoka University include:
Minors
Students are encouraged to consider declaring a Minor in addition to their Major. Those who complete six full 4-credit courses (24 credits) in a subject outside their Major field of specialisation qualify for a Minor in that subject. We offer Minors in all our nine Major subjects.
Minors at Ashoka University include:
Concentrations
The Concentration will consist of FOUR 4-credit courses (or courses totaling 16 credits) in that subject, at least TWO of which (or courses totaling 8 credits) must be 200-level or above. The Concentration can be completed either by the end of the 3-year degree or during the +1 year.
Concetrations can be either in "pure" subjects already offered in our Major and Minor programmes or in approved transdisciplinary fields -- Film Studies, Gender Studies, Linguistics -- where we do not currently have Major/Minor programmes but do offer enough courses in the field to make the Concetration viable.
In instances where a student's Concentration subject potentially overlaps with his/her Major or Minor -- as is the case, for example, with English and Film Studies or Political Science and IR or Sociology and Gender Studies -- only TWO of the four Concentration courses can be double-counted toward the Major or Minor. Students will also be able, with the permission of the Programme Coordinator (or, in cases such as Film Studies where there is no Programme Coordinator, the Dean of Academic Affairs), to take approved study abroad courses toward their Concentration.
Concetrations can be either in "pure" subjects already offered in our Major and Minor programmes or in approved transdisciplinary fields -- Film Studies, Gender Studies, Linguistics -- where we do not currently have Major/Minor programmes but do offer enough courses in the field to make the Concetration viable.
In instances where a student's Concentration subject potentially overlaps with his/her Major or Minor -- as is the case, for example, with English and Film Studies or Political Science and IR or Sociology and Gender Studies -- only TWO of the four Concentration courses can be double-counted toward the Major or Minor. Students will also be able, with the permission of the Programme Coordinator (or, in cases such as Film Studies where there is no Programme Coordinator, the Dean of Academic Affairs), to take approved study abroad courses toward their Concentration.
Co-curriculars
Every semester, Ashoka University offers several 2-credit Co-Curricular Courses in Performing Arts, Visual Arts, and Language. These normally meet in the evenings once a week for two hours. Co-Curricular Courses are a mixture of practical training in an art form (e.g. dance, theatre, music, painting, ceramics) or language (e.g. French, Latin, Urdu) and critical analysis of the aesthetic, social, political, economic, and historical dimensions of the same.
Students have to take 2 Co-Curricular Courses as part of their graduation requirements; in any semester, a student can take a maximum of 1 Co-Curricular Course.
Students have to take 2 Co-Curricular Courses as part of their graduation requirements; in any semester, a student can take a maximum of 1 Co-Curricular Course.
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