Message from the Vice-Chancellor
 

Greetings from Ashoka University. In this edition of Perspectives I bring you news about our Convocation 2022. 

A Convocation is surely the most celebratory moment in the academic calendar of a University. On one of the hottest days of the Haryana summer, 11th June, the travails of the weather were set aside as graduating students, with parents and families, Ashoka’s founders and friends, faculty and staff, and senior members of the University administration participated in a beautifully orchestrated Convocation ceremony in the auditorium and a relaxed high tea on the lawns outside afterwards.

A Convocation in person after two years. The return to the tossing of convocation caps by the graduands in the auditorium, the roll call and receiving of degree scrolls from the Chancellor, the Dean of Academic Affairs administering the Ashoka oath, two very distinguished guests, Professor Kelvin Everest and Professor Maria Leptin, delivering the Convocation Address in each part of the ceremony – these were moments to cherish as we gathered in the physical space of the auditorium.

I hope this Newsletter is able to capture visually and through links the magic of that day.

In this edition I want to highlight also the work of one of our Centres, the Centre for China Studies, and the unique YSP Science Programme, as a flavour of the multiple other happenings at Ashoka.   

Prof. Malabika Sarkar

Vice-Chancellor | Professor of English,

Ashoka University

Undergraduate Convocation

Prof. Kelvin Everest, Emeritus A. C. Bradley Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Liverpool, was the distinguished keynote speaker for the convocation ceremony of the undergraduate class of 2022 at Ashoka University.

M.A., MLS and ASP Convocation

Prof. Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council, delivered the keynote address for the convocation ceremony of the M.A. Economics, M.A. English,  Masters in Liberal Studies (MLS) and Ashoka Scholars Programme (ASP) class of 2022.

Convocation Aftermovie

Ashoka Centre for China Studies

The Ashoka Centre for China Studies (ACCS) has been set up to build China Studies at Ashoka University as an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary area studies programme with a strong commitment to disciplinary depth and language learning.

On 29th April, ACCS and Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) signed an MoU, the signatories being Mr. Sachin Sharma (Registrar, Ashoka University), Mr. Peters Chen (Director - Education Division, TECC), Prof. Elizabeth J Perry (Director, Harvard-Yenching Institute) and Mr. Chung-Chiang Hsiao (Executive Director, Mandarin Training Centre). This agreement formally initiated the Mandarin Language Scholars Programme (MLP) in the presence of Ambassador Shivshankar Menon (Chair, ACCS).

The MLP aims to help young Indian scholars and practitioners develop a working knowledge of the Mandarin language for their research, teaching, or professional work, through a fully funded, one-year intensive Mandarin Language training in Taiwan.

ACCS will be offering a Minor in Chinese Studies to students at Ashoka from Monsoon 2022.

ACCS was happy to announce that the late Prof. Roderick ‘Rod’ MacFarquhar's extensive collection on China is being generously gifted to the Ashoka University Library. Prof. MacFarquhar was an eminent scholar of China studies especially Communist China and power politics under Mao Zedong and the collection is expected to reach Ashoka in August 2022.

First YSP-Sciences Held on Campus: May 30 to June 3, 2022

The first YSP-Sciences introducing innovative science education at Ashoka University was held from May 30th to June 3rd on campus. The programme exposed the participants to a wide array of science disciplines offered at Ashoka. Presentations ranged from Computer Science to Biology, Physics and Chemistry with a wide range of topics, lab rotations and hands-on experiments. Dean L.S. Shashidhara, Yukti Arora, Papri Banerjee from the sciences worked together with Dean Vanita Shastri and the entire YSP staff to develop this new programme that was a huge success.

The YSP-Sciences comprised of 26 young scholars of whom 15 were women and 11 were men. They were from across grades 9 to 12 and represented 25 schools, 16 cities and 10 states. One student travelled all the way from Dubai to attend the newly launched YSP-Sciences programme.

The programme delivered high quality and personal experience of the sciences at Ashoka to enthusiastic young scholars giving them exposure to research labs and interactive classrooms. Each day began with a plenary talk, followed by faculty presentations and lab experiments. YSP-Sciences ended on a high note with the closing ceremony attended by 18 science faculty, staff, parents and young scholars who received certificates for participating in the programme.

Office of the Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University