IITs to teach medicine, Universities to train teachers: UGC issues guidelines on Multidisciplinary Education

The University Grants Commission is aiming at changing the way higher education is imparted. the UGC has asked stand-alone colleges and specialised universities to look multidisciplinary way. 

The UGC has asked colleges to follow multiple measures including mergers, offering dual degrees, collaboration, and online courses to name a few to head in a multidisciplinary direction.

"Multidisciplinary education is known to build vibrant communities of scholars, and peers and enable students to become well-rounded individuals. 

It is in this backdrop, the National Education Policy 2020 lays strong emphasis on the transformation of Higher Education institutions into large multidisciplinary universities, colleges and HEI clusters," said the UGC in an official letter.

There can be multiple types of multidisciplinary colleges including, Multidisciplinary research-intensive universities (RUs), Multidisciplinary teaching-intensive universities (TUs), Degree-awarding multi-disciplinary autonomous colleges (smaller than a university). 

UGC has asked colleges to go big on online learning. It states that by 2035

all affiliated colleges should become degree-awarding multi-disciplinary autonomous institutions. 

Colleges can either do this on their own or through collaboration with nearby institutions in the form of clusters or by becoming a constituent part of a university as envisioned in NEP 2020.

To offer multidisciplinary programmes successfully, HEIs are expected to conduct student-induction programmes to create awareness among students about various learning pathways and career opportunities; to register in the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC); and adopt online courses, in addition to other collaboration with other HEIs, to offer the programmes with a strong interdisciplinary flavor, the guidelines stated.

Collaboration between two institutions for the award of dual degree facilitates students enrolled in an HEI to take up the first degree at the host institution and the second degree at the partnering institution

The UGC also proposes mergers of institutions functioning under the same management to put the academic and physical resources to optimal use and to offer multidisciplinary education.