Multidisciplinary Higher Education under NEP 2020

The National Education Policy 2020 envisages higher education in which students gain broad exposure across disciplines while developing rigorous specialization in a chosen field. Its multidisciplinary model combines flexible curricula with large, diverse institutions spanning humanities, sciences, arts, vocational subjects and professional education.

Curricular vision

The policy seeks to replace rigid disciplinary boundaries with holistic learning that develops intellectual, social, ethical, creative and practical capacities.

• Students should be able to choose imaginative combinations of subjects across the arts, humanities, sciences and vocational fields.
• There should be no hard separation between arts and sciences, academic and vocational streams, or curricular and extracurricular activities.
• Programmes should include opportunities for internships, community engagement, environmental education, value-based education and research.

Flexible undergraduate education

Undergraduate programmes are designed to permit mobility, exploration and gradual specialization rather than locking students into a single pathway.

• A 3- or 4-year undergraduate programme may provide a certificate after one year, a diploma after two years and a bachelor's degree after three years.
• The preferred 4-year multidisciplinary programme allows broader education; a research project may lead to a degree with Research.
• An Academic Bank of Credit is envisaged to digitally store credits earned from recognized institutions and facilitate their transfer towards a degree.

Restructuring institutions

Multidisciplinary curricula require institutions with sufficient scale, diverse departments, faculty strength and research capacity.

• By 2040, all higher education institutions should aim to become multidisciplinary, with each aiming for 3,000 or more students, including through institutional clusters or knowledge hubs.
• The system should comprise research-intensive universities, teaching-intensive universities and autonomous degree-granting colleges, with movement possible along this continuum.
• The affiliated-college system is to be phased out over 15 years through graded autonomy, enabling colleges to become autonomous degree-granting institutions or constituent colleges.
• Model public Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities, called MERUs, are envisaged as institutions of high standards comparable to leading national institutions.

How UPSC asks this