August-September 2021
Work Completed:
1. New Minister Appointed
2. Conducted Inductions for OAA & Policy and Community Outreach Departments
3. Conveyed more information regarding the OLS Screening processes to the student body
4. Worked with a student to understand the need and possibility of having an Economics-History student Representative.
5. Met with the Office of Learning Support to discuss possible collaborations for the Peer Learning Support Programme and mental health accommodations. Appointed a PoC for the PLSP collaboration.
6. Drafted an Emergency Academic Accommodations Proposal for students in Afghanistan in light of the ongoing crisis.
7. Orientation week:
Had a meeting with ICT professors (Aditi Sriram and Devapriya Roy) who had expressed interest in conducting an academic expo this time. Helped them plan and structure the session.
Provided support in creating the ICT handbook (in time for the launch in O-week).
Worked with ABP to hold a session with the AAB Student Representatives to provide information to the incoming ABP students
Organised Academic Helpdesks with Ministry Members and AAB representatives
Collaborated with the Cohort Leaders to create a Welcome To Ashoka Series
Released information about the different resources available to the students: ICT/UWP, CWC, Journals, Ministry Website
8. Repository of resources
Along with the AAB collected resources (syllabi, course description) of past semesters and ensured that they were circulated within departmental groups.
Uploaded the drives to our website to ensure every student has access to them; will keep on updating these drives continuously.
Collated the recordings of Academic Expos of various departments through the assistance of AAB, and uploaded them on the MAA website.
Ensured that the updated handbook for each department is uploaded on the MAA website through the assistance of the AAB members; this repository will continue to be updated as and when updates are received from the department through student representatives.
9. Third-Wave Accommodations and Mental Health Accommodations
Had a meeting with the Ministry of CWB to discuss (i) potential academic accommodations for third-wave relief, and (ii) long-term mental health academic accommodations.
Had a meeting with OLS to discuss their system of providing accommodations to students with physical and learning disabilities, in an attempt to mirror their system.
10. Cohort Leadership Programme
Assisted the HoR in conducting interviews for potential Cohort Leaders
Organised and scheduled Training Week (reached out to the concerned administration and faculty members, ministries and helped structure their sessions)
Conducted an Intro to MAA session for cohort leaders in Training Week
Shared a list of all important academic links and documents with cohort leaders
Held a meeting with OLS and Cohort Leaders to ensure that students with physical disabilities have a smooth Cohort experience
11. Conducted the Meet the Academic Societies event for UG-24 across 2 days, as a part of extended O- week.
12. FC Structure Issue
Conducted a survey to understand the benefit of possibly reverting to the FC Bucket system and also the perceived utility of the UG Maximum Credit Policy.
13. Held a training session for mentors of PLSP in order to acquaint them with the various aspects of academics at Ashoka and the MAA in general.
14. Meeting with academic societies, certain clubs and the former CASH representative to discuss the prospect of sensitization workshop and reformative measures for structures of student-led organizations.
15. Meeting with the OAA:
Discussed our three part proposal for reforms within the current FC structure:
FC student representatives and departmental accountability for FCs to ensure we have (i) representation in the FC steering committee and (ii) a body to approach for qualitative concerns regarding FCs
Increasing departmental variety in the FCs offered: Encourage departments which are not heavily represented within the FCs to offer courses; this suggestion will also be taken into consideration while making hiring decisions
An additional P/F which can only specifically used for FCs to reduce the additional pressure it puts on students- will be revisited once an FC representative is appointed
Briefed them about our SH reforms within student-led Organisations (Academic Societies) which we are currently working on
Asked a few NoC clarification questions to ensure NoCs for Academic Societies’ leadership will be collected soon.
Discussed the possibility of having a joint meeting with OLS, ACWB and Ministry of CWB to discuss the logistics and various implications of establishing mental health academic accommodations.
Planned for the Academic Societies Fair and second round of Academic Expos.
Flagged that the Student Directory has not been available on AMS
Work in Progress:
1. Structural changes including sexual harassment reforms in Student-Led Organisations
CASH sensitization by the CASH Chair for academic societies leadership and members.
Formulating an integrity-based honour code for societies.
2. Creating a process for the election and selection of FC student representatives
3. Working with Ministry of CWB to create a list of mental health accommodations in accordance with UDL (Universal Design for Learning)
4. Conducting inductions for a Deputy Minister and for the following departments: Community Outreach; Wellbeing and Inclusivity; AAB, Departments and Societies.