The undergraduate programme in History at Azim Premji University brings together a committed and critical engagement with the myriad pasts of the peoples of the Indian subcontinent alongside a vision of transformative social change via education. The approach to studying history within such a framework cannot be top down. It is something that can only be achieved in and through inclusive collaboration. Hence, the History programme seeks to work with a socioeconomically and culturally diverse student body, one that bears rich potential for doing history collaboratively and meaningfully, in a manner that contributes towards the building of a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society

The History curriculum aims to develop certain core, discipline-specific competencies as well as advance foundational skills and capacities in our students. The former includes gaining familiarity with different kinds of archives and primary sources; engagement with social and collective memory; understanding the nature of the relationship between the present and the past; exposure to different fields of enquiry within the discipline, as well as to other kindred disciplines; and, opportunities for practicing history through a variety of methods — from archaeology to oral history. Overall, the History programme aims to engender an understanding of the past that is not fettered by competitive civilisational claims. Instead, we seek to foster in our students a deep understanding and appreciation of macro- and micro-historical processes that shape peoples’ lives in concrete social contexts over time. 

Complementing this is the Common Curriculum that History shares with all other undergraduate programmes in the university. Besides exposing students to a wide-ranging engagement with India’s present, pasts, and possible futures from an interdisciplinary perspective, this aspect of the curriculum bolsters the aims of the History programme by enhancing students’ abilities to read texts and contexts carefully, critically, and imaginatively; write cogently in different genres and across different platforms, including digital ones; and, reason and dialogue publicly and civilly, while engaging with a multiplicity of viewpoints. We believe that such a broad-based approach to undergraduate education will enable our students to not only pursue higher education in History and allied humanities and social science disciplines, but also equip them to explore a range of employment opportunities. 

We invite interested high-school students from all over India to apply to our programme. We especially encourage applications from students belonging to historically marginalised and economically disadvantaged social groups and communities.