Undergraduate

Critical Thinking Seminars include: Introduction to Critical Thinking (ICT), the principal offering of the Undergraduate Writing Programme (UWP). All students complete ICT in their first year (either in the Monsoon or the Spring semester). The UWP also offers ELT Tutorials, an immersion critical thinking course for non-native English speakers, which are capped at 5 students each. Other departments offer elective sequels to ICT, to further develop students’ writing and research skills.

Ashoka University requires each student to take 9 Foundation Courses. Each of these courses is mandatory. These courses are not formal gateways into the Major programmes, but distinctive courses that introduce students to the foundations of thought and various styles of thinking, and also to inter- and transdisciplinary approaches.  Other than Introduction to Critical Thinking which must be completed in the first year, students have the flexibility to choose the order in which they take the Foundation Courses but are advised to complete the Foundation Courses series early in the three year undergraduate programme.

A Major is the subject in which a student will earn a Bachelor’s degree – either a B.A. or a B.Sc. Although students can take courses toward their specialisation starting from the second semester, they are only required to formally declare their Major at the end of the third semester. A minimum of 12 courses are required to complete a Major in a subject; 16 courses are required to complete an Interdisciplinary Major.

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.

Students are encouraged to consider declaring a Minor in addition to their Major. To qualify for a Minor, students must take 6 courses (24 credits) in a programme outside their field of Major specialisation. For details regarding the more specific requirements students must meet (e.g. the kinds of courses students must take to qualify for a Minor), please consult the website of the respective academic programmes. In addition to the subjects listed here, we also offer Minors in all our eleven major subjects.

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. A Concentration can be completed in pure Major and Minor programmes.

Every semester, Ashoka University offers several 2-credit Co-curricular Courses in Performing Arts, Visual Arts, and Languages. Classes for these courses 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 a 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.