Vision of the National Education Policy (NEP)
NEP aims to replace India’s siloed higher education system with large, multidisciplinary institutions.
Focus is on cross-disciplinary learning, debate, research, and interdisciplinary thinking.
It encourages moving from just co-existing disciplines (multidisciplinary) to collaborative (cross-disciplinary) and integrated (interdisciplinary) education.
Creating Multidisciplinary Campuses
Single-stream colleges (like only B.Ed or commerce) will be phased out or clustered to create multidisciplinary universities.
Example: IITs adding humanities departments or arts and science colleges collaborating.
Challenges include finding compatible institutions nearby and managing multiple campuses efficiently.
New multidisciplinary universities are needed in every district by 2030, ideally as single campuses for better research and education outcomes.
Promoting Cross-Disciplinary Learning and Research
Future universities must promote faculty collaboration across departments.
Students should take courses beyond their core discipline to build broader knowledge.
Cross-disciplinary projects and courses (e.g., sociology + film studies + economics) are key to tackling complex problems.
Such efforts need long-term funding and incentives, similar to the U.S. IGERT programme, which trains researchers with both depth and breadth.
Enabling True Interdisciplinary Practice
Interdisciplinary research goes beyond collaboration to create integrated approaches and frameworks.
It works well in science-based fields like biotech or medicine but faces challenges in others like architecture or engineering, especially in publishing and hiring.
To support this shift, India needs to revamp funding models, academic publishing, and faculty hiring criteria.
Implementing these changes will take time, investment, and governance reforms, and must be carefully planned to suit India’s context.
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