Medical courses at IITs? UGC draft guidelines get a thumbs up

Higher education centres say multidisciplinary learning could aid research, resolve faculty crunch

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have backed the University Grant Commission’s (UGC) draft guidelines on multidisciplinary education to boost research and help produce professionals including doctors and engineers who are up to speed with both technology and social sciences.

Inviting feedback and suggestions from various stakeholders including teachers, students, researchers and those involved in related fields, the UGC on Saturday released the guidelines for transforming HEIs into multidisciplinary institutions. Citing international trends, the guidelines call for phasing out stand-alone and domain-specific HEIs to create HEI clusters and multidisciplinary institutions to enhance teaching, learning and research.

HEIs including the Indian Institutes of