Applications Invited for the Young India Fellowship (YIF) Programme 2026-27

Follow us@ngobox

About the Organization

Ashoka University is named after Emperor Ashoka (c. 304 – 232 BC) who represents India’s highest values and ideals. Emperor Ashoka’s dhamma revolved around liberal thought and education. Having personally undergone a self-transformation, Emperor Ashoka went on to spread his ideas far and wide across Asia.

Drawing from Emperor Ashoka’s life of learning and transformation, Ashoka University provides a holistic education that is liberal, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary, offering a diverse and inclusive space for its students to think deeply and critically, learn across disciplinary boundaries, express themselves creatively, and communicate with meaning to cause impact and change. Students are encouraged to explore ideas, engage in research, and focus on values and ideals of the highest order to experience self-transformation within the duration of their education and henceforth.

About the Fellowship

Ashoka University’s flagship programme, the YIF is a year-long residential postgraduate diploma programme that educates and nurtures Fellows to solve the most pertinent problems that will ultimately create a better world. Around 100 driven individuals are immersed in a multidisciplinary education each year, exploring diverse fields, engaging in interdisciplinary learning, and collaboratively solving real-world problem statements. In this transformative journey, Fellows are guided by renowned individuals from all walks of life.

The rigorous YIF curriculum is designed to give Fellows a multidisciplinary foundation, while also allowing them to gain interdisciplinary perspectives that complement their interests and previous educational or professional experiences. Through an array of multidimensional engagements, Fellows build or sharpen abilities that are critical to ultimately solving the world’s most pertinent problems – as academicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, professionals, artists and more – while belonging to a global community of lifelong learners.

Curriculum Design:

YIF offers Fellows an opportunity to complement the depth that Fellows gained in previous educational, professional and personal experiences, with intellectual breadth. The multiple ways in which they engage with the curriculum, their peers and the larger ecosystem, enable them to build perspective and sharpen abilities, regardless of what pertinent issues they eventually end up solving for – as academics, researchers, professionals, entrepreneurs, artists and more.

The rigorous year-long YIF is structured into eight terms, each approximately six weeks in duration. The YIF curriculum consists of four key pillars:

• Core and Elective Coursework: A set of foundational and thematic coursework delivered by Ashoka University faculty, visiting faculty and practitioners from across various fields and disciplines. The first half of the year (Terms 1-4) comprises core courses that all Fellows partake in, while the second half (Terms 5-8) allows Fellows to build multi- and inter-disciplinary grounding through elective coursework in smaller sections. Most second half courses are offered as electives.
• Critical Inquiry and Expression: A year-long module focussed on shaping critical reading, writing and expression skills along with tools to synthesise cross-disciplinary learning at the YIF.
• Immersive Experiential Learning: Focussed on group-based project work on self-designed problem statements or collaborative engagements with partner organizations, through the Experiential Learning Module.
• Holistic Learning and Engagement: Comprises a set of credited foundational components in the first half of the year through the Learning and Engagement Module, along with three non-credited components that are spread across the academic year: Mentorship, Alumni and Guest Engagement, and Peer Learning.

Eligibility

Applicants should have completed a recognised undergraduate degree or equivalent in any discipline. Final-year undergraduate students who will complete their degree or equivalent by the summer of 2026 are also eligible to apply. Having work experience (full-time, entrepreneurial, freelance, or internship experience) may be advantageous. Many Fellows also hold postgraduate credentials.

There is no age limit for applying to the YIF.

How to Apply

Admissions for the Class of 2026-27 are open.

Apply now

Priority Deadline: December 8, 2025

For more information please check the Link

Stay in the loop with the newest RFPs and Grants through NGOBOX's WhatsApp Channel. Join now by clicking here!

Tags Entrepreneurship Skill Development Research Others