From the summer of 2020, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, will introduce two postgraduate courses, admitting 25 students in each – MSc in economics and cognitive science. They will be offered by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
In 2018, soon after IIT Delhi was awarded the status of an “Institution of Eminence”, its director, V Ramgopal Rao, had said: “We will branch out and do more of what we have not done yet.” The IoE scheme’s sole objective is to get the institutions so designated to achieve higher international university rankings.
Rao had further said that IIT Delhi would launch a range of programmes that would respond to market needs. He wasn’t defining the roadmap for just one IIT. Nearly all the IITs are moving further away from core science and technology to evolve into multidisciplinary institutions. First, the business schools came in the 1990s. But since the early 2000s, the humanities and social science departments have hit a growth trajectory, launching new undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes.
This shift is endorsed by the draft National Education Policy 2019 which recommends that all institutions, including IITs, must strive to become multidisciplinary institutions. That international university rankings appear to favour multidisciplinary universities is a motivator as well.
The HSS departments
The oldest IITs have had humanities and social science departments for decades and new ones have them as well. Each IIT’s HSS department is different as are the courses they run. For many years, they mostly guided research in PhD programmes and taught only the elective courses that B.Tech students had to compulsorily study. According to an IIT Delhi faculty, every engineering student must earn 15 credits from courses offered by HSS departments.
This story is from the March 2020 edition of Careers 360.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 2020 edition of Careers 360.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A university dying a slow death
Darjeeling Hills University has students but no permanent vice chancellor, teachers, administrators or a campus
What state universities are doing with their autonomy
Lucknow University is planning new courses, online and offline, but Madras University is grappling with funding problems
MIT Art, Design & Technology University
MIT Art, Design, and Technology University: We Dare to Dream and Care to Achieve it | MIT Art, Design, and Technology University: Achieving Excellence Through Diversity for All Mankind | MIT Art, Design, and Technology University: A Community of Lifelong Learners, Responsible Global Citizens, and Champions of our Own Success | MIT Art, Design & Technology University: Successfully pioneering Holistic Development, Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Fewer offers, slimmer packages
Like in engineering colleges, placements at top arts and commerce colleges are also facing a slump
The rot in research
Delayed fellowships, straitened resources, discrimination, exploitation, poor management Indian researchers have their backs against the wall
From maths to the wandering mind: What IKS centers are studying
Over 50 IKS centres have come up across education institutions and non-profits to lead research on Indian Knowledge Systems. Here’s what they are studying
EMPOWERING DIVERSE MINDS ACROSS VARIED DISCIPLINES
In the ever-evolving landscape of education, the paradigm has shifted from mere academic excellence to cultivating holistic development and innovation.
How 'Lady Kim Jong' is forcing Bengal's private teacher training colleges to fall in line
Embarrassed by a notification issued in Assam, the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University (BSAEU) cancelled affiliation of 253 private colleges for breaching regulations
ADIGHUNGHANAGIRI UNIVERSITY
Sri. Dr. Nirmalanandanatha Ginn turned the vision of Sri. Sri. Sri. Dr. Balagangadharanatha Mahaswamiji into a reality by establishing the Adichunchanagiri University for providing world class professional education to the rural population.
CUET: The other side
Delayed admissions, swathes of vacant seats and loss for local students what the CUET exam has meant for universities and why more are now pushing for alternative’ ways of admission