Meet the 21st Century Challenges

New Education Policy, NEP-2020 recommended multidisciplinary curricula for all Higher Education Institutions HEIs, that can be designed by integrating disciplines like Arts, Humanities with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. A holistic and multidisciplinary education at higher/undergraduate level is expected to yield positive learning outcomes that include capacity building, increased creativity and innovation, critical thinking and higher order thinking capacities, problem solving abilities, teamwork, communication and writing skills, more in-depth learning and mastery of curricula across fields etc; besides enhancing the research capabilities along with development.

Such an approach of education and training will produce well-rounded individuals who posses critical 21st century capacities and capabilities in all the spheres of present-day knowledge and information age.

Interdisciplinary Education and Collaboration

Interdisciplinary courses have gained significant relevance in modern education and professional domains due to their ability to address complex, real-world challenges that cannot be solved through a single discipline approach. Interdisciplinary courses train students to integrate knowledge and approaches from various fields. These courses often include elements of humanities, ethics and social sciences helping students understand the societal impacts of their work.

In Higher Education Institutions HEIs, cross-disciplinary programs are promoted to bridge gaps between specialized fields; while specialization deepens expertise, teaching complex global challenges (like climate change, pandemics, artificial intelligence ethics, environmental issues, healthcare, urban planning and so on) requires collaboration across specialized domains.  Interdisciplinary subjects like; Biophysics, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Biomedical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Environmental Science, Nano technology, Web designing and many other programs require experts from multiple disciplines, who can integrate knowledge more effectively using tools like, Artificial Intelligence assist in managing vast amount of data and information.

Need for Multidisciplinary Courses

A holistic and multi-disciplinary approach as has been the practice of the ancient civilizations is needed even in today's education system and society for its is relevance as under:

1. i) It can develop all capacities of individuals, that is, intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional and moral in an integrated manner. Such system will help develop human resource with capacities in disciplines across the arts, humanities, languages, sciences, social sciences, professional, technical and vocational fields. It can also promote various skills, communication, discussion and debate, and rigorous specialization in a chosen field.
2. ii) It can help solve many complex issues and challenges like environmental issues, climate change, healthcare, artificial Intelligence ethics and many others.

iii) The intersection of different fields often sparks ground breaking ideas, thus fostering creativity and innovation.

1. iv) It advances interdisciplinary research and thus contributing to the academic and scientific development in advanced fields of knowledge.
2. v) Such courses provide insight into diverse cultures, systems and philosophies, thus help students become globally updated thereby promoting global citizenship.
3. vi) It encourages ethical decision making, for instance; Artificial Intelligence ethics involves computer science, philosophy and law.

Few challenges that can be overcome are: a) challenge of balancing depth and breadth of knowledge; b) evaluation strategies that fairly evaluate diverse competencies; and c) faculty training to teach interdisciplinary content.

Conclusion

Multidisciplinary courses are essential for equipping students to navigate and lead in an interconnected world of knowledge. They prepare learners to bridge gaps between fields/disciplines of knowledge. With this aim and mission, New Education Policy, NEP-2020, besides many other recommendations has proposed restructuring of Higher Education Institutions HEIs in three categories; a) Research Universities for research and teaching, b) Teaching Universities for teaching and learning, c) Degree Awarding Colleges, that is undergraduate colleges. All such HEIs institutions will gradually move towards full autonomy and should eventually be transformed into Large Multidisciplinary Universities and Colleges with 3000 or more students. By 2030, there should be one multidisciplinary HEI in or nearby every district.

It is in this context that the book on Multidisciplinary Science titled, "Development of Science Through Ages", authored by Prof. Mohammad Aslam Baba, was released in the year 2024, at S. P. College. Srinagar. The first section of the 921 pages book contains “Historical Perspective of Science” and the second section besides other reading material presents discussion on “Modern Technologies” including thirty science articles on various disciplines of science.

Prof. (Dr) Mohammad Aslam Baba, former Principal/Dean Engineering and Technology, Cluster University of Srinagar

Dr. Sabahat  Aslam, Assistant Professor, P.G. Department of  Education,

University of  Kashmir