Please elaborate about 3+1 year program at Ashoka University?

Ideally, if we had a four year undergraduate program, that would have been great because in the first year so much of the student's time goes on the foundation courses which are absolutely essential but that doesn't leave perhaps as much time for a chosen major. So, what we have is a 3+ 1 year structure. At the end of three years, the student graduates with a B.A or B.Sc degree in her/his chosen field and then has an option of returning for the fourth year and in the fourth year there are two options a student can take. Either the student can opt to do more specialised work in his/her chosen field such as do a thesis, intensive research and work in that or the student can come back to complete the liberal arts experience. By this time, in the fourth year, he can go in for minor concentration etc. in a variety of other fields while doing some courses in the chosen major. So, either a variety of subjects can be done or it could be the focused research oriented work in the chosen field. And that creates the pathway for the student's life after University. In the fourth year, they get the time to decide their field of interest and they can make an informed decision.

Prof. Malabika Sarkar
Vice Chancellor, Ashoka University