Impressions of a First Semester

The second Pro-Vice-Chancellor writes on his introduction to Ashoka University.

My first days at Ashoka are in August 2017. The heat envelops me like a wall whenever I’m outdoors.

I walk past the Dhaba every evening to get to the faculty residences. The tables are buzzing with conversation.

I’m woken up at 2 am one night by the bright lights outside my bedroom window and the muted sounds of cheering. It turns out that there’s a match being played at the football field just adjoining the faculty residence building.

Rushing home from work at 9:45 pm one evening to grab a quick dinner and then rushing out again to participate in a quiz competition at 10:30 pm. My team comes second.

So my first take: the real action at Ashoka takes place in the late hours of the night.

It’s Friday evening, week 2 of my life in Ashoka. I’m told a prominent but provocative politician has been invited to meet the students on campus on Saturday morning. Who’s meeting him? What arrangements have been made, I ask. The students know, I’m told.

Already, some students and activists are staging protests. In the meantime, the politician has tweeted about his visit to Ashoka, so there’s no hope of keeping it nice and low key. I recall being narrated an incident in previous years that left politicians annoyed, the students feeling mutinous, and the administration seriously worried about the potential fallout.

So now I feel the true weight of the responsibility that’s unwittingly been thrust upon me — there’s no senior faculty or admin on campus apart from me, and my experience in reining in opinionated young people is limited to small groups. I work out a strategy with the student committee whom I’ve got to know a little; they communicate to the students that the politician is a guest, an invitee, and we need to show respect even as we disagree. During the actual interaction, students are open and vocal about their differences in opinion, but the incident passes without any bloodshed, and I heave a sigh of relief.

Take number two: I am really impressed that the students have enough maturity to express dissent, yet give due respect to someone with an opposing point of view.

I also need to deal with everyday challenges.
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Everyday challenge: Example 1

An email from a student marked to 20 people ranging from admin to the founders:

Admin,

The hot water on my floor has not been working properly for the last month. Please take up this issue seriously as I have been put to serious discomfort. I am supposed to be focusing on my course and not on the most basic amenity. I have been complaining about this to various people but NO ONE LISTENS!

Please fix it.

A student

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I attend an off-site where each of the departments chalk out their agenda for the year. I’m blown away by the research some of the faculty is currently working on, and their plans for taking it all to the next level.

I see students hanging out with faculty after office hours, discussing, debating, challenging, and listening. It looks like a healthy relationship.

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Everyday challenge: Example 2

A student shows great initiative in writing to, and seeking internship with a thinktank. The CEO of the thinktank forwards his email to us….

Dear XYZ,

I’m deeply interested in the area that your organization is working in and I’m looking for an internship with you.

Of course you must remember that just as you will be evaluating me, I will be evaluating you…

Oops! Looks like some coaching is needed on how to approach someone for a favour.

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People complain about the problem of stray dogs in India. Some of our students have adopted dogs that live on the road just outside the campus. Everyday, they take turns to feed and play with them.

One of these students gets bitten by a dog they’ve adopted. Anxious parents call, worried at what their child has to suffer, and complain about the menace of stray dogs. The student gets an anti-rabies vaccine but continues to look after the dogs. This also serves to make them realize that they need to do more than just feed and pet them in order to ensure that the dogs have a healthy and happy life. The dogs are all taken for an anti-rabies vaccine. Any diseases are treated by the vet. Some problems remain of course, even as I write this, but now the dogs are fed, vaccinated, and petted.

Take number three: that these young people are sometimes reckless, but they are young people with heart.

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Everyday challenge: Example 3

I am on a much needed break somewhere deep in the Serengeti in Tanzania, when I get a panic-stricken phone call:

I have a job interview coming up in 2 hours. After your safari can you coach me?

Now Ashoka travels with me wherever I go.

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Amidst all these different student concerns, there’s no escaping the fact that 70% of what I do is on other, equally urgent, issues. Apart from the routine administration, admissions, communication and finance, I work over the best part of two weeks, together with colleagues, both junior and senior, in administration as well as faculty, on the strategic plan for the university over the next five years. Then there is the process of preparing a plan to increase the diversity of the student population: to bring in students who may be facing some challenges, and thinking through how best to support them. I work on putting together a new organizational model to increase collaboration, but also greater performance orientation, while increasing the transparency of assessments. We evaluate an algorithm to calculate the number of classrooms needed. I work with the architects and project team in the context of the look and feel of the new block and campus coming up.

I start working on career support to students and am a little alarmed, first, at the pickiness of the students, and second, contradictorily, at the same time, at the overarching sense of worry among the students, that they would not get placed.

The admissions process at Ashoka is painstaking and the students are hand-picked; on campus, they are encouraged to question received wisdom and follow their own path. Which is a wonderful thing, but it does mean that sometimes jobs that are perceived to lack zing don’t excite them. One of India’s large prestigious companies turns up for a pre-placement talk where only 6 students show up. We are red-faced with embarrassment at the fiasco.

I find that many of the best companies in India, once we communicate with them, are quite keen to interact with the students, given their quality and the reputation that Ashoka already has. The question is how do we translate that keenness to them actually coming down to campus, and when they come down, how do we ensure that students show up for these interactions, and the companies understand from the enthusiasm of the students that in fact, hiring from Ashoka is a great idea.

I then work closely with a few volunteer/chosen students from the ASPs and YIFs to plan recruiting by companies. During the process of our interactions, there is an ‘aha’ moment when they realize that we need to work together on placements, make sure we know which are the most preferred companies that the students want, and go actively after them, and since it’s not going to be easy to persuade the companies to come, make sure that when they do come, we put our best foot forward to convince them to hire from us.

One of the more favoured companies suddenly announces that they would come for a discussion with the students in the middle of the Christmas holidays. It’s a much earned break for the students, who’ve been working hard all semester long. The placement committee takes charge. They get people to delay their break and to show up for key pre placement talks, even though many had already booked tickets. Even students who were not keen on the company or had already got placed turn up to make sure the companies carried home a good impression of the campus.

Yet another take: It’s inspiring to see the selflessness of the PlaceCom students in trying to get jobs for their peers, going well above and beyond the call of mere duty.

When I look back at the last semester, I realize that I am floored by the students. They’re an argumentative, opinionated bunch, sometimes with no sense of perspective, I think, when I get a long chain of emails on some trivial issue. But their hearts are usually in the right place.

They certainly are the most interesting part of my day.

Mr. Sankar Krishnan is the second Pro-Vice Chancellor at Ashoka University. He assumed the position on 16 August 2017. Prior to joining Ashoka University, Mr. Krishnan was a partner at McKinsey India and then later a private consultant.