IIT Guwahati launches Master's programme in Liberal Arts

GUWAHATI: The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is launching a Master's programme in Liberal Arts which will be offered by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Guwahati from the academic year 2022-2023, stated a press release.

The first batch of 30 students will be admitted from the upcoming July 2022 semester based on specific admission criteria to be announced soon.

The programme aims to offer cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary training to students and hone their ability to think critically and creatively about social, political, and aesthetic issues that concern our world today and would align with the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. By engaging in meaningful cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary conversations, students will learn to make informed judgments and choices, while also remaining aware of their ethical implications.

The challenges faced by humanity and the planet today require a holistic approach, lateral thinking abilities, and non-traditional problem-solving skills in the future citizens of the world. The programme will help students to be creative with the skill sets they acquire and to address real-life problems. The programme will also offer opportunities for interested learners to engage with digital technology and methodology, think critically about technological paradigms, and apply digital tools in critical humanities research in praxis-based projects.

Speaking about the launch of this degree program, Prof TG Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, emphasized that the main motive of this liberal arts program is to promote a multidisciplinary approach in all aspects of higher education so that the youth are exposed to critical thinking, analytical reasoning, encourage creativity, multi-lingual and traditional knowledge while they prepare for complex and wide-ranging jobs.

The courses have been prudently designed keeping in mind the new developments in academia such as thinking across disciplines and including Liberal Arts philosophy in enhancing life skills. The range of courses comprising cores and electives is geared towards the orientation of Liberal Arts concepts like Geo- Spatial Analytics, Digital Humanities, International Relations, and Diplomacy, Study of vernacular literature and languages, Area Studies, etc. Self-learning projects in each semester will be the unique highlight of these academic project works. This will inculcate leadership qualities in students and make them front-runners and policy-makers of the future.

The course on Master's in Liberal Arts programme will be crucial in securing a place for the institute in the liberal arts higher education map.

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