The Undergraduate Programme at Ahmedabad University provides skills, promotes citizenship, builds courage, and inculcates responsibility. It is aimed at providing broad and deep education that will equip the student to navigate the world in which she lives and become an agent of change in the betterment of her own life and that of the society. The undergraduate education is premised on the fact that it is broad enough for the student to discover her passion in life and prepare her to pursue the passion and yet build deep expertise in her chosen field. It is the ambition of the University to facilitate crossover of disciplinary learning. Undergraduate education, for many, is also a terminal degree hence, it must provide a pathway to earning a livelihood.
Empathy for others who are less endowed and a sense of duty towards contributing to the society whether through their own discipline or their engagement with social organizations is an important ethos that must be reflected by the university environment. Universities are also safe places where students and faculty can use scholarship to address conflicting ideas and diverse opinions and beliefs. Respect for and protection of other’s ideas and beliefs and their right to express it even when they are different from ours should be a foremost object of the undergraduate experience.
The undergraduate curriculum at Ahmedabad University provides immense flexibility to help students discover their own passion and their own areas of engagement. The programme will particularly help students develop capabilities to synthesize ideas and information while creating an ability to cogently develop an argument and express themselves, verbally and in writing.
Programmes Offered:
Please visit the Schools and Centres page to know more details.
Foundation Progamme and First Year at Ahmedabad University:
The University hosts Undergraduate and Integrated Programmes that offer the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Technology, Integrated Master of Business Administration and Integrated Master of Science in Life Sciences.
Within each of the programmes, such as the Bachelor of Arts Programme, a student can select a Major such as History or Economics. Similarly in the Bachelor of Business Administration Programme a student can select a Major in Finance or Operations Management.
A student may declare her Major when she enters the University, or may choose to enroll with an Undeclared Major or Undeclared Programme and, as discussed below, declare her Major at a later date.
There may be prerequisites specified for a Major in terms of preparation and academic achievement.
A very well-prepared student may decide to undertake an Interdisciplinary Major that will be decided by a Committee on Individual Choice in conjunction with the student. This allows for creating a customized Major to meet the academic requirements of the student. An interested student may apply to a single Major at the time of application and may indicate that she would be interested in an Interdisciplinary Major. The student will work with a Programme Advisory Committee during the first year at the University and will design the Interdisciplinary Major and the accompanying programme of study at the end of the second semester. Alternatively, a student can apply to transfer to an Interdisciplinary Major at any time; however, such a student may have to take an additional set of courses which may increase the duration to complete the programme. Note that this is in addition to Interdisciplinary Majors existing at the University, such as Philosophy, History and Languages in the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Programme.
All undergraduate programmes other than the Bachelor of Technology programmes in Engineering will be Honours Programmes requiring students to complete either an Undergraduate Thesis or a Capstone Project. The Bachelor of Technology programme will also require a final year project.
Students in Integrated Programmes will be awarded two degrees at the Bachelors and Masters levels in the same discipline. There will be an option to exit the Integrated Programmes after four years with a Bachelors (Honours) degree upon successful completion of the requirements for the Bachelors (Honours) degree.
Programme Chairs and Major Advisors will advise students about the academic requirements of each Programme and Major.
In addition to the Major, which is the discipline of the degree, a student can select a Minor, which is an alternative area of specialization that is outside the Major discipline. A Minor can be taken in the same School or outside the School but cannot be in the same or closely related discipline as the Major. This allows for exploration of interest and a buildup of more than cursory expertise in more than one area. For example, an engineering student may do a Major in Computer Science and Engineering and may do a Minor in History, while a BBA student may do a Major in Marketing and a Minor in Computer Science.
Students may opt for a Minor in a discipline if it is sufficiently distinct from that of the Major. The School hosting the Major will determine if the two disciplines are sufficiently distinct. Moreover, each School may specify the prerequisites required to complete a Minor and may also specify a minimum proficiency in those requirements. For example, the Engineering School may require that the student may have take Mathematics, Physics and/or Chemistry at a certain level.
At least eighteen credits of coursework as specified by the School would be required to complete a minor. Students may use their Free Electives to take courses relevant to their Minor. Up to six of the eighteen credits may also come from the General Education Requirements and Major Requirements for the student.
While each student has to declare a Major, a Minor is optional even though we encourage students to declare a Minor. Most Major disciplines will also be available for a Minor. The Minor shall be listed on a separate certificate other than the degree certificate.
Students should consult the relevant document about obtaining a Minor.
The Minors offered to students are as below:
1. Accounting
2. Business Analytics
3. Entrepreneurship
4. Finance
5. Human Resource and Organisations
6. Management
7. Marketing
8. Operations Management
9. Operations Research
10. Supply Chain Management
11. Economics
12. History
13. Philosophy
14. Psychology
15. Social and Political Sciences
16. Computer Science
17. Life Sciences
18. Physics
19. Chemical Engineering
20. Computer Science and Engineering
21. General Engineering
22. Information and Communication Technology
23. Mechanical Engineering
24. Heritage Studies
25. Design
26. Environment and Energy
The Undergraduate Programme will be a minimum 120 credit programme. The Structure of the Curriculum is as follows:
I Foundation Programme 12 credits
II General Education Requirements 30 credits
III Major Requirements 60 credits
IV Free Electives 18 credits
V Volunteerism Required
Total 120 credits
The Bachelor of Technology Programme credit requirement will be 146 credits, including 86 credits for the Major Requirements.
One credit roughly translates to 1 hour of instruction or 2 hours of laboratory work, and 2 hours of study outside the classroom in a week.
Students will take courses within in each of the categories: Foundation Programme, General Education Requirements, Major requirements, and Free Electives. In addition, every student will participate in at least one semester of voluntary service. The details of the Undergraduate Programme are given below. Students should also refer to Programme and Major documents for the details of their Programme and Major, such as the required courses, elective courses, etc.
A student has to maintain a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average of 2.0 across the credits counting towards the degree to graduate.
All students entering the undergraduate programme go through our common core, The Foundation Programme, in the first year. This Programme builds the foundations of interdisciplinary learning at Ahmedabad University and engage with issues of the society through project based learning. The Foundation programme is built around six domains that define contemporary academic and life skills in the 21st century, areas of innovation that are transforming the world, and perspectives that help become a responsible member of any society. This includes:
Data Science, Materials, Biology & Life, Behaviour, Constitution and Civilization, and Communication.
The delivery of these areas is done in a thematic manner to develop amongst our students a holistic approach to thinking and enquiry where they would learn to understand multiple issues that defines a problem and learn the art and science of synthesis. These thematic areas for 2019-20 and 2020-21 are:
Water, Environment and Climate Change, Democracy and Justice, and Neighbourhoods
The idea is to engage the students’ imagination with contemporary problems that the society in which they live encounters. Each theme is explored through a set of domains thereby creating interdisciplinary learning. The students will learn that many systems of knowledge are required to solve challenging problems.
Another innovation would lie in delivering these thematic modules in a studio format through experiential learning. The Foundation Programme is evaluated on a Passed/Not Passed basis to ensure that students are fully focused on the joy of learning.
The General Education Requirements are aimed at building breadth further while starting to understand the methods of disciplines that help in building intellectual enquiry, systems of knowledge, and skills from various disciplines. It allows for additional exploration stemming from introduction to disciplines in the Foundation Programme. It also allows the student to explore their interest further.
The following will make up the General Education Requirements
• at least one course of three credits from each of the following areas:
• remaining fifteen credits from anywhere at the university including the above areas (as well as in technology and management) but not in the major area. Communication courses will be included in General Education Requirements.
At least one three credit courses in mathematical/statistical methods/programming among the courses above. A course on Data Science satisfies this requirement.
The student shall use the General Education Requirements to build breadth and perspectives. These courses can be taken along with major courses or free electives and in any semester. You are encouraged to spread them through your years at the University.
A Major may require certain courses to be taken as General Education Requirements that will enhance the student’s understanding of the Major discipline further.
A major is the area of specialization within a degree (e.g., BA in History or BTech in Chemical Engineering or BBA with Economics & Finance). The student chooses a Major at the time of entering the University but has flexibility to change the Major as per the prescribed policy. Some schools may require more credits for a major than the sixty credits mentioned above (in such a case, the total requirements for the degree will be higher than 120 credits)
A Major may have the following structure:
• Discipline Core
• Discipline Electives
• School Electives
• Internships
• Undergraduate Thesis or Capstone Project or Bachelor of Technology Project with a writing component.
The number of credits for the Undergraduate Thesis or Capstone Project or Bachelor of Technology Project can be 15 credits for full semester engagement, within or outside the University, and 6 or 9 credits, spread over one or two semesters, in other cases.
Undergraduate Thesis, Capstone Project, Bachelor of Technology Project
Students, especially at the undergraduate level, have varying aspirations post their degree. Most would like to look for a job upon completion of their undergraduate degree, many pursue a Master’s programme (sometimes in their own discipline or in another discipline including a professional one) and a few pursue graduate study leading to a doctoral degree. Academic programmes wish to ensure training that prepares their students for a career or further studies but which also defines the culmination of their learning in the programme. Often an Undergraduate Thesis or a Capstone Project or a Bachelor of Technology Project is used meet such diverse career requirements and preparation.
All undergraduate students at Ahmedabad University complete an Undergraduate Thesis or Capstone Project or Bachelor of Technology Project with a writing component in their final year at the University. The number of credits for the Undergraduate Thesis or Capstone Project or Bachelor of Technology Project can be 15 credits for full semester engagement, within or outside the University, and 6 or 9 credits, spread over one or two semesters, in other cases.
An Undergraduate Thesis is a scholarly document that examines a focused or a narrow issue or a problem and evaluates, analytically and critically, the issue or problem at hand in depth and often suggests a suitable direction for a solution. It could also be an analysis of a situation or a perspective or a point of view that deepens our understanding of the area and issues under study. An Undergraduate Thesis could be a critical analysis of a book(s) and ideas, testing of a hypothesis with data that involves a review of related literature and development of an analytical solution, development of a theoretical model, an engagement with a scholarly debate in the discipline, etc. An Undergraduate Thesis should be done individually and it prepares the student to undertake independent research and teaches them about methods of enquiry. It helps build deep knowledge in one narrow domain. An Undergraduate Thesis is suitable for a student who wishes to pursue graduate studies leading to doctoral education and perhaps build a research-oriented career.
A Capstone Project is a broad, multifaceted, application oriented project where the student gets an opportunity to apply what she has learned to a practical situation or integrate real world experiences and draw inferences, build a product or service, address important community issues or historical issues based on data and evidence, etc. The Capstone Project involves structuring of an unstructured problem, research, collection of data, development of options and their critical analysis, generation of recommendations and insights, and a convincing presentation (written, oral, and/or using other media). The Capstone Project provides a significant value in training a student for professional life. These projects may be sponsored by an organisation (whether governmental/non-governmental or non-profit/for-profit) and are often motivated by a real problem or issue. A Capstone Project is a group project, preferably an interdisciplinary group across Majors, Programmes, and Schools. It is also meant to train young leaders in problem solving and working in teams.
The Bachelor of Technology Project, or the BTech Project, is the culmination of the learning in the programme for engineering students where they integrate all they have learnt to address a technological issue. It provides an opportunity for students to design, develop and implement systems involving relevant aspects of engineering and its applications. Students work under the guidance of a faculty member or an industrial expert to identify a societal need and develop a comprehensive solution, while also addressing trans-engineering aspects, such as those related to the business model, costing, human interfaces, environmental impact and societal impact.
The number of credits for the Undergraduate Thesis/Capstone Project/BTech Project is 15 credits for full semester engagement, within or outside the University, and 6 or 9 credits, spread over one or two semesters, in other cases.
In the case of an Undergraduate Thesis/Capstone Project/BTech Project of 6 or 9 credits, all students majoring in a discipline will register for the same number of credits, as stipulated by the discipline.
Free electives provide students an opportunity to pursue any particular area in more depth or develop alternate areas of expertise or learn more about many other areas of interest. It can take the following form:
• A student may decide to take more electives in their area of expertise (or a major) or build some expertise in a set of allied areas. They may use their Free Electives to meet this aspiration.
• A student may develop further breadth by taking courses in their areas of interest across the University.
• Minor: the University provides a student an opportunity to pursue alternate areas of interest (in addition to a Major) by taking a limited number of prescribed courses in a given area. This allows for exploration of interest and a buildup of more than cursory expertise in more than one area. A student may choose to use the Free Electives to take courses towards a Minor.
The Free Electives provide flexibility to students to customize their education at the University.
All students will complete 30 hours of engagement with society to develop a sense of engagement, concern, build problem solving skills, and understand the role of an engaged member of a society. This will be done through a mandatory course, Engagement with Society, that would be a graduation requirement. This course can be taken anytime during the stay at the University but it is advised that the student engage with the courses during the first two years at the University. The 30 hours of volunteer work may be completed during one semester or during the Winter or Summer Break. This course is offered in many forms and will be offered on a Passed/Not Passed basis. A student can engage with the course first as a student and then as a course support. One of the objectives of the Social Service requirement is to build a value for action in the lives of our student.
The Student Volunteer Programme will identify certain programmes at NGOs and other organisations where the student can complete the requirement. Alternatively the student can identify an organisation and project on her own in Ahmedabad or elsewhere but must seek approval of the project by the Coordinator of the Student Volunteer Programme before commencing the work. Volunteer work could include teaching underprivileged children, participating in adult literacy programmes, distributing blankets or other items, working with old age homes and orphanages, providing support and encouragement to patients at hospitals, cleaning heritage sites, engaging with workers on campus, participating in housekeeping services, cleaning of the Arboretum and terraces on campus, operating a food bank, engaging with the police, Municipal Government, Zoo, Sanitation Services, etc.