Ashoka Uni's higher education: 5 years and a $100M later

Ashoka University’s growth proves parents and students are betting on an ‘education for life’. More private universities with the ‘liberal’ label are coming up. Perhaps the time and place for a less rigid curriculum is here. Time also for employers to change?

Ashoka University arrived on India’s higher education scene with $100 million in philanthropic capital, a liberal arts promise and a signal for change

Five years and 2000 students later, it has much to show for, including a new campus coming up next door at an investment of Rs 1000 crore

Over 100 recruiters, from top-notch consultants to tech companies, are queuing up. Important, but not the only measure of success of a university

Ashoka has many tight ropes to walk as it goes deeper into smaller towns, adds socio-economic diversity, thousands of more students, and yet aspire to be a research-driven financially sustainable university

“If you can read [Immanuel] Kant, write a paper, critique his writing, if you can do abstract algebra, game theory…you can do accounting,” says Ashish Dhawan, co-founder of Ashoka University. The former private equity investor doesn’t mean to slight accounting. The point he’s making is this: if people have rigour in their studies, picking up real-world skills is easy.

A study of history, philosophy, economics, or psychology is as relevant for any business executive as it is for a humanist or a non-governmental worker. “You’d never be able to spell out a Yes Bank debacle if you just focused on the visible numbers.

AUTHOR

Seema Singh

Seema has over two decades of experience in journalism. Before starting The Ken, Seema wrote “Myth Breaker: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech”, published by HarperCollins in May 2016. Prior to that, she was a senior editor and bureau chief for Bangalore with Forbes India, and before that she wrote for Mint. Seema has written for numerous international publications like IEEE-Spectrum, New Scientist, Cell and Newsweek. Seema is a Knight Science Journalism Fellow from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a MacArthur Foundation Research Grantee.

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