Ashoka University is a private university located in the Rajiv Gandhi Education City at Rai, Sonipat, Haryana. Its institutional story began before university status: the idea of creating an interdisciplinary liberal-education university took shape among a group of founders in 2007, the International Foundation for Research and Education was formed in 2008, land was acquired in Sonipat in 2010, and the Young India Fellowship began in 2011. The university itself was established in 2014 under the Haryana Private Universities framework and began operations from its Sonipat campus that year. Ashoka is built around a liberal-education model that combines the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, mathematics, computer science and interdisciplinary study. Undergraduate students encounter broad foundation courses before deeper specialization, while graduate and doctoral programmes support advanced study and research. The Young India Fellowship remains a distinctive postgraduate interdisciplinary programme and an important part of the institution’s intellectual culture. The university has developed a research-oriented campus environment with faculty-led centres, laboratories, archives, public-policy work, scientific research and interdisciplinary collaborations. Its residential structure is central to the student experience, placing academic study, student life, cultural activity, sport and peer learning in one campus setting. Ashoka also emphasizes need-based financial aid as part of its admissions model. The university received authorization to grant degrees under Section 22 of the UGC Act in November 2014, and UGC correspondence in April 2015 recorded acceptance of its compliances. From a small founding cohort, Ashoka has grown into a larger multidisciplinary community while retaining its original focus on critical thinking, discussion, research and broad-based education. Ashoka’s model was built through collective philanthropy rather than ownership by a single promoter, shaping its governance and fundraising from the outset. The Young India Fellowship, launched before the undergraduate university opened, became an important academic precursor and helped establish the interdisciplinary culture later associated with Sonipat.