Ashoka University, India’s first non-profit liberal arts university and Indian
Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), one of the top management institutes
globally have joined hands to design an entrepreneurship curriculum to be
delivered at Ashoka University.
IIMA’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) and
the Ashoka University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) will work closely to
design and teach the minor in entrepreneurship to undergraduate students at Ashoka.
The tie-up emphasizes on the relevance of the merger of liberal arts and
management studies to create leaders and change makers.
“We are delighted to collaborate with IIMA for this minor in
entrepreneurship. We are positive that this will be a holistic experience for
liberal arts students who envision themselves as entrepreneurs,” said Sanjeev
Bikhchandani, Founder, Ashoka University and an alumnus of IIMA.
Eminent Faculty members from IIMA such as Ankur Sarin, and Mukesh Sud
will deliver lectures at Ashoka University as a part of the programme. Amit
Karna, Chairperson CIIE, commented, “We believe that formal education of
entrepreneurship can make a huge difference in the way entrepreneurial ventures
are created and run. Students from non-management or non-technical background
can learn as much from it.”
Priyank Narayan, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) at Ashoka
University says, “Students at Ashoka will be exposed to different themes of
entrepreneurship as a part of the programme. This partnership will bring to the
forefront the inter-disciplinary nature of entrepreneurship. There will be a
focus on segments like cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit, creative problem
solving, social entrepreneurship, design thinking and new venture planning.”
The minor in Entrepreneurship would require a student to study 6 courses in
Entrepreneurship over 3 years.
This programme would be the first of its kind as the visiting faculty
members have a close connect with liberal studies and the public policy space.
Mukesh Sud, Associate Professor in the Business Policy Area at IIMA, has
earlier taught entrepreneurship at a US liberal arts college for 10 years.
Ankur Sarin, an Assistant Professor at IIMA, teaches courses in Social
Entrepreneurship and Public Policy.