Vice Chancellor Message

• We step into March 2022 with hope in our hearts as students, faculty, administrators and staff return to campus after exactly two years. Some will be entering the campus for the first time. We will still maintain Covid protocols, but the mood will be celebratory. This is the moment we have been waiting for and I extend my very warm welcome to the entire Ashoka community.

• I am happy to share with you key developments that have taken place and others that are taking shape at this moment. It is exciting news for us that Ashoka’s first Chair Professorship designated for Astrophysics has now been filled and over the next few months teaching and research in Astrophysics will chart out an exciting trajectory. New interdisciplinary majors combining humanities and the sciences are also being designed.

• We have made progress in our plans for the implementation of the NEP and the four year programme. While Ashoka’s academic course map is well suited to the contours of the NEP, there are inter-institutional requirements in the policy that need to be thought through. Meanwhile, the University has successfully completed its submissions for the next round of University rankings.

• Well-being is a key concern at Ashoka. And in that spirit we have instituted a crèche on campus for the children of our faculty and staff and a cheerful small playground for them. A visit to the crèche and the playground situated in the faculty housing area gives a rewarding feeling that we are now truly a University community. 

• We need to be mindful of well-being in multiple ways – for the Ashoka community, for the world beyond Ashoka and for the planet that we inhabit. Through teaching, research, projects and practices the orchestrated efforts of the University’s faculty, students, administrators and staff – academic and non-academic departments, centres, clubs and societies – have contributed significantly towards Sustainability. This is reflected on our website and is a tribute to the commitment across all sectors at Ashoka.

• Ashoka’s international partnerships provide the opportunity for significant collaborative work and are a sign of the recognition this University has received from leading institutions around the world. The new wide-ranging MOU with Cambridge University should serve as the anchor for much collaborative work in the humanities, economics and the sciences. There are other significant MOUs as well and we hope to engage further with those institutions.

• Let me end with another look into the future. It is in the spirit of Ashoka that there should be a Centre for Classical and Modern Languages. The first steps in that direction have been taken and exciting possibilities have emerged.

• Let us hold this moment, exercise abundant caution but in a festive spirit, savour the joy of our return to campus. And let us hope for Convocation on campus at the end of the academic year.