‘Dual-use’ learning

News: The University Grants Commission (UGC) proposal to allow undergraduate and postgraduate students to pursue two degrees simultaneously is a progressive step forward in the higher education sector.

What are the potential benefits of this move?

First, this policy will help high-school students who are often unsure of whether to pursue the sciences or humanities stream in higher education.

Second, by promoting interdisciplinary study, the two-degree proposal addresses a growing requirement among employers for lateral thinking.

Today, even the global IT giants, have widened their recruiting focus from graduates in conventional science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, to those with multi-disciplinary exposure — in other words, it’s STEAM graduates, in which the A stands for Arts.

Thirdly, the proposal to allow domain experts and not just doctoral degree holders to teach is also a sensible move, since it will address a possible faculty shortage once the demand for dual courses expands.

What are some relevant concerns?

Quality of higher education courses and diploma programmes: The market for online courses and for, say, science- or arts-focused universities to start offering cross-over disciplines, will expand. Hence, the UGC will need to be cautious of its approval-granting and monitoring processes.

– All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), is facing problems due to its indiscriminate approval process and lax monitoring. Moreover, IT companies’ complaints of the need to retrain IT and science graduates from scratch after recruitment have been well documented.

Limited employment opportunities in India: The problem of unemployment for graduates and post-graduates in India has grown with the increased availability of university seats and the shrinkage of the public sector without the private sector picking up pace. This is one reason Indians tend to stay longer in the higher education system, equipping themselves with multiple qualifications to enhance their employability.

What is the way forward?

Without rapid economic expansion, India will have to deal with the added problem of thousands of dual-course graduates and diploma-holders, without any meaningful employment, a recipe for social unrest.

The government needs to understand the imperative of focusing on upscaling employment.

Source: This post is based on the article “‘Dual-use’ learning” published in the Business Standard on 17th Apr 22.