Liberal Arts Education: FLAME University VC Dishan Kamdar demytifies myths in a live session
We live in a very dynamic world full of challenges and complex issues. Gone are the days, when only domain functional expertise can shape your career path to a promising future. Today, there is a need for people who possess interdisciplinary skills and have a critical approach to any problem. This demand is fulfilled by liberal arts education. In recent times, liberal arts has emerged as one of the most promising career options for the students in the Indian education system. However, there is a lack of awareness about the liberal arts studies in our country. Some students consider it as their last resort. The current admission session has been deeply affected by the COVID 19 pandemic. Students across the country have ambivalence about the liberal arts programme. To help such students in these extraordinary times, Maheshwar Peri, Founder, Careers360 speaks with Prof. Dishan Kamdar, Vice-Chancellor and Dr Santosh Kudtarkar, Dean, Faculty of Liberal Education, FLAME University about the scope of liberal arts education, current education scenario and the way forward.
Liberal Arts Education: Live Session with Prof. Dishan Kamdar (VC, FLAME University)
Q - What is liberal arts? What does it imply? What does it exclude and what does it include?
A - There are a lot of questions among parents and students with respect to the liberal arts. As you walk out of the door, you ask 10 different people, what is liberal arts? You get 10 different answers. Parents believe liberal arts have something to do with arts, dance, painting, music, etc. Henceforth, it should be the last option for my child. Some parents believe liberal arts has something to do with the left-wing and right-wing. I think we need to clear this confusion. Liberal arts basically is an education system that provides holistic education and development to a student. In the traditional education system, whatever you specialize in, you get straight-jacketed right from year one. Let’s say an engineering student, when you opt for engineering courses, you study engineering courses till the time you graduate. You get straight-jacketed with the hope of developing a very deep level of functional expertise. That’s the conventional role of education. Now, in liberal arts what we do differently is we allow you to explore and then you major. So, it is as regressive as any other programme. Rather than focusing on honing only a student's IQ, we are focusing on the holistic development of the students. So, a student pursuing a liberal arts education essentially opts from a plethora of options given to them. While they pursue majors, they also take up many other courses that are offered in other disciplines. It basically expands its horizon. The central tenet of liberal art education has its roots to effective communication skill, critical thinking, ethics and philosophy. In summary, if you chose liberal arts as your option, you have to study foundation courses in the first year irrespective of the major. So, we focus on holistic development while you develop your functional expertise.
Q - There is thinking among students that a liberal arts programme has nothing to do with science. So, where does it go in terms of liberal art programme along with science programme?
A - There is a common misconception in the country. People tend to believe that the liberal art disciplines and STEM disciplines are mutually exclusive from liberal arts. Liberal arts just doesn’t mean you are pursuing a certain discipline but it's also about other critical skills like effective thinking, effective communication and leadership quality. Most US universities have a liberal arts framework. I don’t think there is an argument to disassociate management, STEM education, humanities and social sciences. They are all interrelated.
Q - Why did India not have great liberal arts universities in the private sector. Why is it that none in the private side of the education ever thought of a liberal arts university about 10-15 years back?
A - When we look at the pre-British era of education in India, I think we gave the entire world the education of liberal arts. We introduced liberal arts education through Nalanda and Takshila. That was the origin of Indian education. But, then we have this British era coming in and during this era, pure compatibilization of technical and vocational education was done. Then, we have the post-independence era where we somehow continued what Britishers left behind in our education. If we look back 30 years ago, we had this BPO and IT-boom. A lot of jobs have been created in the United States. So, a lot of students in India wanted to pursue engineering at that time. Many engineering colleges were set up due to demand. Then, after some time we started realizing that our careers are plateaued and now we want to get into top leadership positions. To address this stagnation, we came up with IT and MBA. We have seen enough examples of our Indian students pursuing MBA education with IT and they got senior management positions. Last 20 years, we have seen demand in IT and business education. Then, there was a slowdown in the US. The locals in the US were lobbying the government to ensure that the locals will get better jobs than foreigners. The functional expertise that you acquire may be obsolete in the next 30 years. Today, if you meet recruiters, they are looking for a person who is creative, team player, efficient to solve complex problems and possess transferable skills. Henceforth, we see a sudden resurgence in liberal arts education in India.
Q - What kind of students prefers a liberal arts university in terms of keeping their options open? How are the placements and what is the future path for them?
A - A student who doesn’t want to get constrained by one discipline for the next four years of his or her life would want to explore liberal education. As far as placement is concerned, a lot of students ask me this question. Except for specialized disciplines like engineering, there are a plethora of options. The whole world is there waiting for you. You can get placed in industries, think tanks and NGOs. You could be an entrepreneur. You can get into the roles of the supply chain, HR, finance, data mining, advertising, branding, journalism and the list can go on. So, you have a lot of options because of your transferable skills.
Q - There has always been a perception that liberal arts education is better abroad. How is liberal arts education in India different?
A - There are very few liberal arts universities in the country. It is growing out here and the quality of these institutions are pretty high. I would say they are as good as anywhere in the west. I don’t think we lack anywhere. One big disadvantage is that in India we can not offer a four years degree in the undergraduate level. But there is always an option to do an add on year. This add on year is basically a research year where you are working on a year-long project. I think a couple of universities in the country have done extremely well. Their education is on par with what you would get in the US.
Q - Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, there is a perception that there will be a lot of investment in Health Sciences. So, post COVID 19 scenario, where do you see liberal arts courses and its futures?
A - With problems and challenges come opportunities as well. Like, I said everything goes through a cycle. We had this engineering boom and then we had this facade of business schools mushrooming and now, given that we are going through a disruption, there is a great focus on the transferable skills. COVID 19 has taken all of us by surprise. It has forced every industry to rethink the way they operate. Health Sciences definitely would be in higher demand. I would advise the liberal arts colleges not to offer these courses without proper infrastructure. Don't play around with the student’s life. If you wanna offer something related to Health Sciences, make sure you have the required infrastructure.
Q - How does a programme in performing arts tie-up with any of the courses offered by you?
A - Amongst our offerings in majors and minors, we do have music, dance, drama and design as minor offerings at FLAME University. So, a student can pursue two focus areas at a time. So, if you are deeply interested in this area, you can pursue it as a minor programme.
Q - FLAME offers a study abroad programme where you study some parts of the curriculum from FLAME and then have the exit degree from somewhere else. Could you please tell us more about it?
A - We want our students to be global citizens. The courses that the students do out there are transferred back to the FLAME and counted as a major or a minor. It becomes a part of a curriculum because they can go to a particular institution where their major or minor courses are offered. But we don’t offer joint degrees or twinning programmes.
Q - What are the opportunities for Psychology and Sociology in the post COVID era?
A - Mental issues will definitely be on the rise. There will be a split of layoffs and job cuts, But, even pre COVID 19 if you talk about Mental Health issues amongst students today, I found them very anxious about their careers. Psychology is the most opted minor course in any liberal arts colleges.
Q - How is an MBA offered in a business school different from the one offered in a liberal arts institute?
A - Yes, there’s a difference. An MBA offered in the institutions of the liberal arts has two differences, at least I can talk about FLAME University. Our MBA students will have an opportunity to take a minor with their major, which is pretty rare in the MBA space. We make sure that they have two parallel focussed interest areas. We provide specializations in HR, operations, marketing, entrepreneurship, finance at the same time digital marketing, advertising, branding and Film and Television. These are the different majors you can opt for an MBA programme. But, while you major in a discipline, you can minor in another discipline. That’s the first difference.
The second difference is we have 8 terms. In every term, we ensure that you take one programme which is out of management. Henceforth, programmes like public administration and sociology are woven into your MBA programme.
Q - What is the scope of performing arts minor?
A - I would like to tell each and every student to follow their passion. There are enough job opportunities in every discipline. Don’t worry about the scope right now. As long as you are good at it, you will get a job. If you are passionate about performing arts, please go ahead and pursue a minor.
Q - What are the chances that a liberal arts programme will help students get down to civil services examinations or other competitive examinations?
A - If you look at IITian writing civil services examinations, they are not writing examinations in their area of specialization. A liberal arts student is much more competent to pass these examinations because you are emphasizing not only critical thinking as a part of the curriculum, but also communication. Also, you get a holistic education that will help you to perform a generalist role that a civil services examination is trying to test you for.
Q - Any last advice for the students who don’t want to pursue the STEM courses and shackle them into the B.Tech space? How do they plan for a university which gives them space, power and freedom to decide for themselves?
A - We have seen liberal arts coming up in the past few years. If we look at the National Education Policy, humanities and social sciences are given equal spaces as STEM courses. This is because our context is changing. What was relevant in the past, may not be relevant today. Please speak to the intellectuals and academicians to get career advice. I think going forward, the future is going to be challenging and you need to develop new skills. The more flexible you are, the better you are.