The incoming batches of BTech students at IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay will be welcomed with an updated syllabus. The IIT Delhi has already established a panel to recommend the changes that will be coming into effect in the next academic year. This will be the first such curriculum update from the prestigious institutes in more than a decade.
According to Prof Avinash Mahajan, Dean of Academics at IIT Bombay, the curriculum at the renowned institute was last updated in 2007. The new course curriculum’s main attractions will be its emphasis on non-engineering courses like humanities, arts, social science, management, entrepreneurship, and design, or “HASMED” as it is known at IIT Bombay. This curriculum will be implemented using an interdisciplinary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) approach, which will be integrated with the fundamental engineering disciplines of a student’s chosen branch, reported Indian Express.
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The curriculum revision at IIT Bombay resulted from the necessity to adapt to evolving professional patterns, it said. In recent years, the institute has observed that graduating classes have made a variety of professional choices, some of which are distinct from the fundamental engineering concepts they acquire. It is anticipated that the revised curriculum would help students become experts in whichever professional field they decide to pursue.
The curriculum of IIT Delhi, according to its director Professor Rangan Banerjee, must keep up with the pace of change in the information and technological milieu. IIT-Delhi is attempting to prepare students with obstacles and opportunities to engage with the real world. The improvements will be noticeable beginning next year, he said, adding that the institute is conducting broad discussions with teachers, students, and alumni.
The curriculum revision is aimed at meeting the changing needs, particularly in the post-pandemic world, when the educational landscape has already undergone a fundamental transformation in approach and technique. To transform an IIT from just being a technical institute to a full-fledged university, both IITs have emphasised on a common goal of offering a comprehensive approach and a well-rounded education.
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The University Grants Commission (UGC) had earlier asked stand-alone colleges and specialised universities to look multidisciplinary way. This means students could be learning medicine at IITs and doing research at general universities. The commission 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. This is in line with the National Education Policy 2020 that “lays strong emphasis on the transformation of Higher Education institutions into large multidisciplinary universities, colleges and HEI clusters,” said UGC.
To offer multidisciplinary programmes, the universities and colleges 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, UGC added.
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