Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder of Info Edge India and a co-founder and trustee of Ashoka University, recently stated that liberal arts graduates possess skills making them uniquely valuable in an increasingly AI-driven global economy. He emphasized that their critical thinking, communication abilities, and analytical prowess are highly sought after by employers, often more so than traditional MBAs, engineers, or CAs.
Ashoka University's Strong Placement Record
Bikhchandani shared impressive placement figures for Ashoka University's 2025-26 batch, which achieved a 100% placement rate. The university's Career Development Office secured 425 offers from 153 organizations, including 73 new recruiters, highlighting growing industry confidence in liberal arts education.
- The highest domestic offer reached ₹42.5 lakh per annum for an undergraduate computer science student.
- The average Cost to Company (CTC) increased by 16.3% to ₹13.5 lakh per annum.
- Median salaries also saw a rise of 7.5%, reaching ₹11.4 lakh.
Key Sectors and Salary Growth
Approximately 60% of the placed students found roles across four major sectors:
- BFSI: Accounted for 21% of placements, with average salaries increasing by 4% to ₹12.7 lakh.
- Consulting: Made up 19% of placements, experiencing a significant 22% rise in average packages to ₹16.1 lakh.
- Technology: Represented 10% of placements, with average salaries climbing 29% to ₹15.1 lakh.
- Data, Research & Analytics: Also accounted for 10%, with average pay increasing by 21% to ₹13.5 lakh.
Global Opportunities and Scholarships
Beyond domestic placements, Ashoka University students demonstrated strong interest and success in pursuing higher education abroad. A total of 130 students received over 400 offers from leading global universities.
- The university secured 24 admissions to Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge), an increase from 15 the previous year.
- Ivy League admissions also rose significantly, with 24 students gaining entry, up from 13.
- Students received substantial partial scholarships (ranging from 10% to 80%) from prestigious institutions like Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Sciences Po, London School of Economics, Hertie, and the National University of Singapore.
- Notably, 18 students received full-ride master's scholarships, including Rhodes, Gates Cambridge, Inlaks, and Felix scholarships, more than doubling the previous year's eight.
- Additionally, 16 PhD admissions were recorded, with 12 of them fully funded.
A Focus on Inclusive Placement Success
Bikhchandani emphasized that Ashoka University prioritizes 100% placement at scale rather than focusing solely on the highest salary package. "What is more important is to ensure 100% placement at scale. Everyone from the graduating class at Ashoka who is seeking a job should get one. I am glad we are successful on this one," he stated.
He also highlighted the importance of supporting students entering the non-profit sector, noting that the university pays close attention to the lowest salaries and the bottom quartile to ensure overall upliftment.
Convincing the Industry
The veteran investor credited Ashoka's dedicated placement team, composed of professionals from the corporate sector, for successfully building recruiter confidence in liberal arts graduates. He acknowledged the challenge of convincing an industry traditionally geared towards MBAs, engineers, and CAs. "The Ashoka placement team has gone out and convinced companies that Liberal Arts graduates bring perspective, critical thinking, better communication, and analysis to the table and so are better in an AI world," Bikhchandani explained, confirming that while it took effort, the message is now resonating.