NEW DELHI and DEHRADUN, India : UPES Dehradun, a NAAC ‘A’ accredited university, today announced the launch of its School of Liberal Studies and brought together renowned academicians from diverse fields to deliberate on the need to redefine liberal studies. The launch and the discussion was joined by Robert Lensink, Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Groningen University; Nawtej Dosanjh, President & CEO, MirraU, a start-up university in Florida, USA; Dipankar Gupta, Retd Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU; Nandini Chatterjee Singh, Cognitive neuroscientist and currently Senior Project Officer at UNESCO MGIEP; Narayanan Srinivasan, Professor and Head, Department of Cognitive Science, IIT Kanpur; Sanjay Mitra, Professor of Practice, School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi; Vijay Mahajan, CEO, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, and Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, New Delhi and Sugata Marjit, Distinguished Professor, IIFT, and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. These distinguished personalities are also on the advisory board of the School. The discussion was moderated by Shubhashis Gangopadhyan, Dean of UPES School of Liberal Studies, an eminent economist and a well-known researcher in diverse fields including patent laws and digital preparedness.
To redefine liberal studies for the 21st century and disrupt conventional learning, the pedagogy and curriculum of UPES School of Liberal Studies are based on a trans-disciplinary approach. It offers courses across multiple domains, including Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Literature, Applied Mathematics and Data Science. Students can design their own degree by combining School of Liberal Studies programs with various options of Electives, Minors, Signature and Life Skills courses available through other schools of UPES i.e Engineering, Computer Science, Business, Law, Design, Modern Media, Health Sciences & Technology and School for Life. The emphasis shall be on experiential learning through application of theoretical knowledge in solving real-world problems.
Speaking on the launch of School of Liberal Studies, Dr Sunil Rai, Vice Chancellor, UPES said, “School of Liberal Studies is a giant step forward in making UPES a truly trans-disciplinary university. The new school seeks to revolutionise the education process and further our vision as the ‘University of Tomorrow’ to create well-rounded individuals and leaders driven by excellence and empathy.”
Dr Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, Dean, UPES School of Liberal Studies added, “With the best of faculty, multiple clubs and chapters, a learner-centric approach and the robust eco-system being provided by UPES, we are confident that our students will be the drivers of change. The world needs change makers who can provide plausible solutions by understanding a problem from diverse perspectives, initiating a dialogue, shaping policies, and propagating positivity”.
UPES School of Liberal Studies is now inviting applications from interested candidates for its five undergraduate degree programs- B.Sc. Economics with Data Science, B.Sc. Applied Mathematics & Statistics, B.Sc. Psychology & Behaviour, B.Sc. Politics, Economics and Society, and B.A. Literature.
