William Shakespe­are’s famous quote, “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one”, perhaps epitomises the National Education Policy’s thrust on a multidisciplinary curriculum. Worldwide, some educational systems require students to specialise early by choosing a major field of study prior to entering university; others allow students to postpone this choice. In a multidisciplinary approach, different disciplines can interact and overlap with each other to create a comprehensive understanding. The advantage is that the students can discover their interests in the course of such learning. NEP 2020 aims to “develop all capacities of human beings viz. intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional and moral” by providing a flexible and innovative curriculum, including credit-based courses. NEP 2020 is optimistic about offering flexibility in choosing subjects ranging from science and humanities while retaining the scope of learning fine arts and sports. Thus, even for the best of students, the traditional dependence upon science is bound to reduce if they do not enjoy studying the subject. The draft National Curriculum Framework, released in early April, has altered the classification of streams into science, arts and commerce for the newly-classified secondary school education.

This restructuring of hi­gher education will enable ac­ademic collaborations and dual-degree programmes. Students will be able to complete the first degree at the host institution and an additional second degree at a partnering institution without going through the admission process again. Further, the same degree may be completed in the multiple entry and exit mode from more than one institute with a gap in between course duration. The UGC has allowed uni­versities to conduct up to 40% of the courses online. According to the policy, by 2025, at least 50% of learners shall have exposure to vocational education, opening up several professional avenues for them.

NEP 2020 has also recommended the establishment of multidisciplinary higher education institutions in or near every district by 2030. Humanities and arts are proposed to be introduced in institutes like the IITs, IIMs, IISER and IISc. In consonance with the said policy, IIT Delhi has chosen to set up a ‘School of Public Policy’, while IIT Madras is set to offer its students a bachelor’s degree in Data Sciences. IIT Guwahati’s initiative to offer courses in medicine, architecture, arts and philosophy are also worth mentioning in this context. In June 2022, the Union education minister had announced that the IITs will begin offering a four-year B.Ed course. Will these premier engineering institutes not lose core competency by getting too diversified? Reading humanities and economics was already present in the B.Tech courses in engineering colleges. Was there then any need for such experimentation in these reputed institutions?

The “Guidelines for Tra­n­sforming Higher Edu­c­a­tion Institutions into Mul­ti­d­isciplinary Institu­tions” were published in March 2022, recommending the opening of departments for languages, literature, music, philosophy, Indology, art, dance, theatre, education, mathematics, statistics, and more for all HEIs to achieve a multidisciplinary character. But what about the funds for physical and resource infrastructure for state-run institutes to accommodate this vision?

The NEP envisages three kinds of universities — research-intensive universities, teaching-intensive univer­si­ties, and autonomous deg­ree-granting colleges. The present structure of affiliating universities that are common in all the states will be done away with. Instead, all HEIs shall aim to become autonomous with an empowered Board of Governors by 2035. With postgraduate courses being reduced to one year and pursuing doctoral degrees made possible after graduation, what will be the future of universities?

Arindam Gupta is Professor of Commerce, Vidyasagar University