Building A Brighter Future With MERU 2020

Soorya Subbu

Policy Update

About

The National Education Policy (NEP) has envisioned the concept of Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERU) in 2020. It focuses on holistic and integrated learning by transforming higher educational institutions into multidisciplinary universities and colleges. MERU aims to create new opportunities for students to promote interdisciplinary research and make India a global hub for research and development. It encourages students to widen their learning capabilities and trains them to tackle emerging challenges. MERUs will help in shaping students’ future career options. It is done through orientation programmes on new opportunities in colleges and universities, credit mobility between institutions and online and ODL mode of education. For example, in the rapidly evolving field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), advancements like ChatGPT, scholars are increasingly in need of a multidisciplinary outlook to navigate this landscape. Universities and educational institutions play a vital role in shaping and nurturing creative individuals through multidisciplinary education.

Functions and Implementations

Being a key theme in the National Educational Policy (NEP), MERU strives on four pillars- quality, equity, accessibility and affordability. It is an advanced model of multi-university from the National Education Policy 2020 called MERU. To become a global destination in education, the vision ‘Study in India-Stay in India’ plays a critical role. It aims to eliminate language limitations and regional constraints faced by students.

The country’s top ranked engineering institute like the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) is now moving towards a multidisciplinary approach by including arts and humanities streams, apart from the traditionally focused engineering and technology. This new policy emphasizes a four-year multidisciplinary degree which allows students to experience a full range of holistic education. The NEP proposed an Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) to digitally store the credits earned by every student from various institutions allowing them for flexible degree programs and multiple exit options.

It has two main objectives:

To strengthen infrastructural facilities at institutions for multidisciplinary education and research
To transform single-stream colleges and universities into vast multidisciplinary universities and autonomous degree-awarding Higher Education Institutions.

Performance and Benefits

The Indian government has planned to allot 35 publicly funded universities across the country to establish as MERUs of global standard. It has roughly outlaid Rs. 1 billion to each university to begin with a broad range of courses. Some multidisciplinary programmes are said to be offered across institutions by grouping them into clusters. Awarding ‘dual degree’ is another important concept under MERU. It allows the students to take up the first degree at the host institution and the second degree at the partnering institution. This enables the students to gain more experience and helps them to build their social network.

The IITs in Guwahati Assam, Delhi, Gandhinagar and Madras have already started introducing multidisciplinary courses in fields like design, Public Policy, Environmental Science, Indian history, psychology and economics. IIT Kharagpur has introduced a law school with focus on intellectual property. Also, some unique subjects in the IIT field have been introduced such as ocean engineering, mining engineering, agricultural and food engineering, naval architecture, and architecture and regional planning.

Under this proposal, the Department of languages, literature, music, art, philosophy, Indology, dance, theatre, education, mathematics, statistics, sociology, pure and applied sciences, economics, sports, translation, and interpretation, and many other subjects are being strengthened.

The Dibrugarh University in Assam has been awarded a grant of Rs. 100 crore to be promoted as MERU under the Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) scheme. This helps in facilitating integration of technology, education with skills and reaps demographic and digital dividend.

Challenges

According to the NEP, a more holistic education among undergraduate programmes in professional, technical and vocational disciplines is the main aim in the long run. This transition may not be easy for many specialised institutions, particularly those who face shortfalls in recruiting faculties for vacant positions, even in top management schools. Staff at various universities prefer hiring faculty not just within India, but across the world which requires government approval. This takes a great amount of planning to implement. This also needs good budgeting to fund the institutions and their faculty. One of the main and biggest challenges of multidisciplinary courses is the unpopularity among employers for engineering and science degrees that arise, as many students prefer to go with new and unique streams in colleges and universities. The emergence of key new ideas and information in the field poses challenges to enterprises and institutions due to boundaries and closed nature of knowledge in different external domains.

Conclusion

Where ideas converge, the future becomes multidisciplinary. Many students agree with experts that interdisciplinary courses will help them prepare better for research and provide them with more flexibility in choosing courses. Now, in 2025, an individual is highly considered for jobs to be more successful and productive, if he/she has unique qualifications with expertise and skills that match their education and talent. So, MERUs are in high priority in India as like in any other country. However, the success of this education policy depends on the implementation of the program and how effective it functions along the way.

References

“Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERU)”, Dibrugarh University. https://dibru.ac.in/multidisciplinary-education-and-research-university-meru
Shuriah Niazi, 20 March, 2021, “Plan for 35 multidisciplinary research universities”, University World News. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210319104905352#:~:text=Shuriah%20Niazi%2020%20March%202021,grouping%20them%20into%20’clusters‘.
“Guidelines for Transforming Higher Education Institutions into Multidisciplinary Institutions”, September 2022, The University Grants Commission (UGC). https://www.ugc.gov.in/pdfnews/5599305_Guidelines-for-Transforming-Higher-Education-Institutions-into-Multidisciplinary-Institutions.pdf
Dr. Parminder Walia, Volume 18, Issue 2, July-December, 2024, “Multidisciplinary Education: Strategies for Implementation”, Gyan Management. https://www.gjimt.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Paper-1-Dr.-Parminder_1-4.pdf
Key Initiatives, “Transforming Higher Education Institutions into Multidisciplinary Institutions”, University Grants Commission. https://www.ugc.gov.in/KeyInitiative?ID=4PzbK0f3O6dVw2WyUV0xtg==#:~:text=A%20multidisciplinary%20institution%20should%20not,them%20to%20address%20emerging%20challenges.
Wenjing Lyu, Yuanhao Huang and Jin Liu, 11, Article No: 350 (2024), “The multifaceted influence of multidisciplinary background on placement and academic progression of faculty”, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-024-02818-8#:~:text=If%20someone%20has%20attained%20interdisciplinary,deal%20complex%20problems%20or%20situations.

About the author: Soorya Subbu is a research intern at the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), with a master’s degree in international Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Her areas of interest include international relations, public policy, analysis and global affairs.

Acknowledgement: I extend my sincere gratitude to each and every one who guides me through this process, especially Dr. Arjun Kumar and Aasthaba Jadeja.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the authors and not necessarily to the organization.