Ashoka University Announces Admissions For Its Postgraduate Programme The Young India Fellowship

New Delhi, September 18, 2014 (Newswire.com) - The most popular programme in liberal arts and leadership, the Young India Fellowship announced admissions for its 5th edition of the ground-breaking multi-disciplinary fellowship.

The admission process for the class of 2015 is spilt into two rounds. The first round of admissions will begin on Friday, 5th September and will close on 28th February, 2015.  Applicant’s personal interview will be held in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata.

Prof. Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Dean, Young India Fellowship Programme & Vice Chancellor of Ashoka University said, "It is time perhaps to think of ways of retrieving the idea of education that sets alight the minds of the young. Our hope is that YIF graduates will be prepared to step out into the world with an open mind that is eager to learn and to absorb experiences, a mind that is tolerant and compassionate, a mind that knows how to live with difference and dissent, a mind that is not averse to the idea of work and service, a mind fearless and free of prejudice, a mind capable of articulating truth to power."

Shravan Kumar, Marketing Manager

The fellowship attracts a diverse group of bright young men and women from across the country with the aim to train them in a diverse set of disciplines and with the intention of equipping them to become socially committed change agents for the future.

Every year, the fellowship sees an increase in the number of applicants, making it the most sought after programme for liberal arts and leadership in the country. In 2014, ­­18676 applicants registered for the fellowship, almost 4 times the number witnessed in the inaugural year.  To meet the increasing demand for entry, the number of seats has been increased to 200. 

Some of the success stories of YIF Fellows are listed below:

Pavneet Kaur, Fellow 2014: A computer engineer from Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Pavneet had long realised that her passion lay in working in the social sector when she left her corporate job at Amdocs. She taught at Niwant, an organisation for the visually challenged, and was the head of Friends for Care, an NGO that mobilises youth to take up social work, prior to joining the YIF.  This passion also took her to work and stay in a village in Rajasthan for over a month, work on a tribal project in Bhartiya Jain Sanghtana at Wagholi and helped her  understand what was worth doing. Pavneet secured the 49th rank in the Indian Civil Services Examination this year and has joined the Indian Administrative Service.

Alok Arunam, Fellow 2013: Though an M. Tech in Automotive Engineering from IIT, Madras, Alok studied Engineering Design for his B.Tech from the same institution. He worked on utilizing design thinking methodology to analyse approaches towards sustainability at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad.  Having himself struggled as a village boy, Alok wants to empower village youth to explore available opportunities to realize their full potential and is driven by an ambition to bring a difference in the lives of those who suffer in silence.  Alok currently is fulfilling his dream working in the social sector institution, Parivartan, in Siwan, Bihar.

Samder Singh, Fellow 2012: Samder studied electronics and telecommunication engineering at Global Institute of Technology, Rajasthan.  Samder was always interested in writing and entrepreneurship, and dabbled in a few ventures while at college. Post YIF, he worked at India Inclusive Innovation Fund and ETI Dynamics as its Head of Impact investment. Samder has recently been selected as a Reliance Dhirubhai Fellow to pursue an M.B.A from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Abhishek Choudhary and Saransh Vsawani, Fellw 2013: Both Gandhi Fellows, both from Hansraj College, one a student of English Literature and the other of Computer Science, Abhishek and Saransh have their destinies and passions entwined. They have always had a deep desire of finding solutions to social problems and bringing about social change.   Abhishek and Saransh’s start-up Saajha, won the Echoing Green Global Fellowship in New York this year, the most prestigious award in social entrepreneurship internationally.   Saajha under Pratham works on equipping communities to be active participants in building governance and accountability in schools.

Rolly Seth, Tushar Chugh and Jatin Sharma, Fellow 2012: Rolly an electronics & communication engineer from Amity School Of Engineering & Technology, Tushar an electronics & communication engineer from Manav Rachna College Of Engineering and Jatin also an electronics & communication engineer from LNMIT, came together during the Young India Fellowship, and worked with mLAB (Real-Time & Embedded Systems Lab) at the School of Engineering & Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania on Project 'viSparsh'. They developed a low cost waist belt with haptic feedback for visually impaired. After having gone through the Young India Fellowship, all three of them have worked with Microsoft as a Research Developer (Jatin), Programme Strategy Manager (Rolly) and Software Developer (Tushar). As Tushar continues to celebrate success at Microsoft, Jatin is currently pursuing his MS in Embedded Systems at the University of Pennsylvania and Rolly is now a Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum.