A message to Daksha Fellows from Dr. Ananth Padmanabhan, Dean of the Daksha Fellowship

Dear Prospective Daksha Fellows,

We are eager to welcome the inaugural cohort of Daksha Fellows in law, business, technology and policy.

We are delighted to announce that the response to Daksha Fellowship has been overwhelming. We have completed two rounds of admissions—with two more to go. Those selected can look forward to an intellectually stimulating and transformative year.

In the midst of this pandemic, everyone is wondering when normalcy will be restored. Students and universities across the globe are asking: How will classes be conducted? What are the risks? How do we move forward with our education?

The evidence suggests that the pandemic is not likely to peak in India before the beginning of the academic year and that its retreat beyond the peak is likely to be slow.

We have therefore decided to eliminate risk and uncertainty by launching the Fellowship online. Even as the pros and cons of online learning are being debated, education is too important to delay and must go on. We can revert to a residential or hybrid model in January 2021, based on prevailing conditions.

Global immersion, boot camps, and internships will proceed as scheduled in 2021. To ensure that our preparations for online learning do justice to the richly textured curriculum and transformational experience that awaits you, the start date is postponed to Monday, 28 September 2020. Our inaugural cohort will graduate by August 2021.

Fortunately, online platforms today can more effectively promote formal and informal interaction among students and faculty than was the case recently.

Our vision is not to deliver MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses), which are canned and impersonal. Our vision is to recreate to the fullest extent possible the interactivity and familiarity of small classrooms, in which students, faculty and distinguished guests experience the exhilaration of vibrant discussion and collective exploration.

With the latest learning management systems, research databases and – most critically – our talented faculty, the learning outcomes of the program as originally envisioned will be preserved.

We thank you for your interest in the Daksha Fellowship. Please do stay in touch, and feel free to email outreach@dakshafellowship.org if you have further questions. All major updates shall be made available on our website and FAQ page as well.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Daksha family.