First Year at Ahmedabad

Preparing to Arrive


The transition from School to a University is very exciting but can also be unnerving and requires some adaptation - new environment, new friends, new city, new streams of learning, new opportunities and new exploration.  If you prepare for these exciting opportunities before you arrive then you will be able to take the maximum out of a university experience. Start to learn about how Ahmedabad opens many doors for you. We advise that you brush up on some mathematics or take an online course over the summer. For some others, it may be ensuring that your communication skills are up to the mark. You could start a music lesson or  dance class or a language class over the summer (something that you may have been postponing for sometime now) and continue at the university. Or start learning a new software or making a film. Use your summer before you come to the university leisurely but purposefully,


Circle of Care and Advising
 

To ease the transition into the University, Ahmedabad’s  Circle of Care programme provides you with a Friends Circle comprising a faculty advisor, a Student Mitr (or friend) who is a senior student along with about twelve to fourteen entering students. So you have already communicated with some of them before you arrive to the campus. This group will meet frequently and you will be able to find answers or resolve issues that you might encounter and smoothen you transition in the first year at Ahmedabad. The goal is to provide incoming students with a support system that offers friendship, academic advice as well as guidance in adjusting to University life.  The Circle of Care also includes Programme Chairs, the University Counsellor and the Career Development Centre to provide additional academic and career guidance and emotional support, as needed.

Each programme also has Major Advisors, who along with the Programme Chair and a Programme Manager, will also provide you with academic advising.
 

Orientation Programme
 

All our entering students attend a week long Orientation programme that is organised in the week prior to the first day of classes. The Orientation Programme introduces you to our pedagogy & ways of learning, our multitude of resources, and campus norms of engagement in a fun filled environment. It is a unique transition to campus life.

Ahmedabad also organise a Parents Orientation during the same week.


Foundation Programme, Studios, and the Bi-Semester
 

The first year academic experience involves Ahmedabad’s signature Foundation Programme and specially placed Bi-Semester courses which are introduction to the majors and areas of enquiry. Our unique Foundation Programme comprises four Studios that every first year student takes on the key challenges that mankind faces today. The four Studios address six domains that we want all of Ahmedabad students to engage with. They help build skills, perspectives, and engage with areas of innovation.

You will start taking semester long courses in your major and fulfil general education requirements during The Bi-Semester (i.e., a specially crafted semester for the first year students that spans the second half of the Monsoon Semester and the first half of the Winter Semester). The Bi-Semester is book ended by two studios each. 

The Foundation Programme is the cornerstone of Ahmedabad’s highly curated and challenging interdisciplinary learning environment. The focus is around building a whole person through interdisciplinary enquiry of an issue through our specially designed experiential or practice oriented learning and research thinking. 

The First Year at Ahmedabad is a unique and challenging exploration to find your own voice and to build critical thinking and analytical skills so endearing in a liberal arts education. This is complemented by learning by doing and learning to ask the right questions.