01/08/2020
My views on multi-disciplinary Institutions as proposed in NEP. I feel NEP got it right.
1. I am a strong advocate of multidisciplinary institutions. India's biggest challenge lies in its fragmented higher educational system. IITs are slowly coming out of this. Inter-institutional collaborations are any day more challenging than inter-departmental collaborations. We started a School of Public Policy at IIT Delhi as well as the Department of Design in the last 2 years. A School for Interdisciplinary Research (SIRe) is also fully functional for the past 2 years. Our Department of Materials Science and Engineering, started two and half years ago, is also highly multidisciplinary.
2. Engineers today need Multi-disciplinary skills, to become successful. It is no longer an "I" model, but rather a "T" model. Depth in one area, but sufficient breadth in the allied areas.
3. A civil engineer needs to not only know how to build a dam, but must also understand the environmental and social impact of building the dam. In the consumer electronics space, product design and aesthetics play as important a role as technology itself. Look at any mobile phone today. Technologies are either invisible or beautiful.
4. Innovation prospers when "unlike" minds interact. "Unlike" in terms of "disciplines", "attitudes" or "cultures".
5. I consider the Humanities and Social sciences departments in our institutions as our windows to the society. They help engineers identify the issues/problems in society. Solutions to these problems can come either from the policy space or from the technology space.
6. For the country to make an impact in healthcare, medical doctors and engineers need to work hand in hand. Fortunately for IIT Delhi, we have AIIMS Delhi as our neighbor. We started at least 100 new collaborative projects with AIIMS doctors in the last 3 years. But not all institutions have the luxury of having an AIIMS in their neighborhood.
7. IIT Delhi's low cost solution for COVID detection came from the Biology school within IIT. If we had taken a stand 20 years ago that IITs will not do Biology, this would never have happened. Cognitive Sciences programme in IIT Delhi is being championed by our Humanities Department.
8. If we put problem first, all disciplinary boundaries will vanish. If we want to be impactful and want our research to be visible to the society, the only solution is to break these disciplinary boundaries and embrace innovation. Lets come out of our cocoons.
9. This is not to undermine the basic research or discipline based research. The right proportion is the key, whether it is for individuals or institutions.
Let's not mix politics, let's mix disciplines. 🙏
Copy : IIT Delhi Director wall.
