Acquiring multidisciplinary skills for expanding career opportunities is important, say experts
They were speaking at a webinar on 'Beyond Boundaries: How Multidisciplinary Learning Prepares for a Complex World', organised jointly by the SRM Institute of Science and Technology and The Hindu.
Vinay Kumar, Pro Vice-Chancellor at SRM Institute of Technology, said the National Education Policy has provided the biggest fillip to multidisciplinary education in India. 'While multidisciplinary education is still in the developmental stage and not fully evolved, every institution is coming up with its own method of providing multidisciplinary courses,' he said. Such education also expands employment opportunities, as companies look for interns and workers with different kinds of problem-solving skills and abilities, he added.
Aruna Sankaranarayanan, Visiting Faculty at the School of Education, Azim Premji University, said disciplinary boundaries are artificial. Stating that there are commonalities between disciplines that seem disparate on the surface, she gave the example of mathematics and art. 'Both deal with shapes, sizes, symmetry and proportion,' she said. She spoke of how people with multi-disciplinary skill sets have succeeded in their careers.
'Venki Ramakrishnan did a Ph.D. in physics, moved to biology, and finally won a Nobel Prize in chemistry. Similarly, Steve Jobs pursued a course in calligraphy, which later helped him design the logo of the Macintosh interface,' she said.
On whether online learning and distance education can help students pick up multidisciplinary courses, Ms. Sankaranarayanan said that while online courses are useful, not many institutions may be offering multi-disciplinary courses online. Mr. Kumar agreed that online education has limited programmes. He said that distance programmes exist but may not be guided.
The speakers also spoke about the role of technology in facilitating multi-disciplinary learning and the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI). This webinar can be viewed at https://bit.ly/THSRMCC3
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