Beyond the Sciences & Arts Divide

Ashoka’s promise of a liberal arts curriculum does not just imply ‘arts’ in the traditional sense of the humanities. Instead, it affords a different perspective to the study of both the arts and sciences. The sciences are as much a part of the liberal arts project as the humanities.

What sets Ashoka apart from other science programmes across the country is that these are not vocational degrees tailored towards particular fields of employment, but fundamentally academically-driven. Students are not just trained to produce outcomes, but to observe and understand scientific processes in real time. Ashoka’s interdisciplinary approach integrates pure sciences with disciplines like Sociology, English and Philosophy, such that one discipline does not dilute the other in importance, but interacts in a symbiotic fashion. The rigour is also sustained by lab research, guidance from world-class faculty, emphasis on ethical dilemmas like AI governance that supersede technical prowess, and encouragement towards independent and responsible research.

Why Ashoka’s Model is Fundamentally Different

The Liberal Arts model differs from pure humanities models in its insistence on interdisciplinarity. While pure humanities models usually have a single focus, emphasising on one discipline, with a minor at most, an Ashoka education would invariably open the possibility of the intermingling of disciplines. It is possible, and not a rarity, to study English and Biology together at Ashoka.

The curriculum is designed such that students are only expected to take Foundation Courses (FCs) in their first semester. FCs span a wide sweep of disciplines, namely the sciences, mathematics, history, literature and the social sciences. The variety allows students the time to dip into a range of subjects, identify their interests, and only then embark on their majors and minors. Majors are to be declared only at the end of the second year, giving students ample time to wade through their choices and make an informed decision. Students often switch around their initial choice of majors and minors, with minors turning into majors more often than not.

We also offer Interdisciplinary Majors, integrating traditionally unrelated subjects. Philosophy and Computer Science, or PHICS, as it is popularly known, Psychology and Philosophy (PsyPhi), and the more predictable English and Creative Writing, English and Media Studies and English and Performing Arts are some such examples. Students must also mandatorily complete two co-curricular courses. True to the spirit of interdisciplinarity, these courses comprise a range of performing arts and other skills, furthering horizons by providing a holistic education.

Where Theory Meets Hands-On Inquiry

Since the science curricula at Ashoka are designed to encourage research and critical thinking, a lot of hands-on experimentation and outcomes are produced in the labs furnished with state-of-the-art facilities.

Ashoka has an open-lab facility, with no boundaries between individual labs to encourage interdisciplinary research and thinking across (and against) the segregation of disciplines. Labs are furnished with sophisticated facilities, high-end analytical instrumentation for chemistry, high-performance computing clusters for physics, and PCRs and flow cytometers in the biosciences, promoting real-time research and innovations.

Apart from the sciences, we also have a Media Lab offering DSLRs, PCs, headsets, filming support and systems for projects related to sound, audiovisual production and podcasting. Given that Media Studies is a heavily hands-on, field-driven discipline, the technical support available at the lab enables students to produce their best possible results.

With every available facility, students are expected to produce original and relevant outcomes. Students work closely under the almost one-on-one supervision of expert faculty, all veterans in their fields, adhering to very high standards of experimentation, reading and writing.

Separating Perception from Reality

Ashoka is often portrayed as an elite institution where academics are easy to get by. While affluent students do aspire to make it to Ashoka, that does not make it any less difficult to get into or sustain through the course of one’s degree. Ashoka has a generous scholarship programme, ensuring that no deserving student is turned away for financial constraints. Maintaining a good academic record demands patience, hard work and consistency, while keeping pace with the academic rigour of a kind which is unheard of for students coming from national and state boards. Admission criteria are also quite strict, taking into account not just academics, but overall social and co-curricular engagement.

Ashoka leaves no stone unturned to offer the best possible education in India with its liberal arts curriculum, facilities and emphasis on research. We continually strive to make education accessible, hence the work towards blurring the rigid boundaries between the sciences and humanities. The curriculum seeks to further interdisciplinarity, allowing students to glean the affordances of unconventional intellectual interfaces.