VADODARA: President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday called for a multidisciplinary approach in higher education, saying complex contemporary challenges such as climate change, artificial intelligence, poverty alleviation and democracy could not be addressed through a single field of study.
Addressing the 75th convocation of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Gujarat, President Murmu said the university's range of academic disciplines placed it in a position to bring together different streams of knowledge. “From arts to science, technology to medicine, law to social work, fine arts to performing arts, management to journalism, this university is providing education in many fields of knowledge,” she said.
President Murmu said problems confronting society were increasingly interconnected and required knowledge from multiple disciplines. “Climate change is not only a subject of environmental studies. Artificial intelligence is not only a subject of computer science. Health is not only a subject of medicine or medical science. Poverty alleviation is not only the subject of an economist. Democracy is not only the subject of political science,” she said.
“Today, solving all important problems requires a multidisciplinary approach,” she added.
The President said students needed to develop different forms of understanding and perspective rather than limiting themselves to their own academic specialisations.
“We need the curiosity of a scientist, the sensitivity of an artist, the perspective of a historian, an understanding of economics and the consciousness of sociology,” she noted. President Murmu said higher educational institutions such as MS University are expected to keep moving in this direction and help students in applying knowledge across disciplines. (IANS)
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