Welcome to the Centre for Liberal Education and its signature program Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (LASE) scheduled to commence from 2022. It is open to selected B. Tech students after their first year. The process works similar to a branch change and students will be selected after an entrance test and/or an interview. In the second year, LASE students will study foundation courses as well as some other courses available in the institute. LASE will lead to a BS degree in one of the following concentrations: Natural Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Social Sciences, Art & Design and Custom Concentration. For example, if a student is interested in the field of healthcare, they can choose courses from the biosciences and bioengineering department, electrical engineering or some management courses from the school of management.
Faculty advisers will guide students in making these decisions. The program has the following components: Interdisciplinary ‘Foundation’ courses to give the students a sense of the world around them and the analytic and critical skills they need to interpret it; prerequisite courses within concentrations that are necessary to take up further courses; and a project based on the chosen concentration and, importantly, a large pool of special and open electives.
Liberal arts are often misunderstood as courses in the fields of Arts. It is actually a multidisciplinary educational tool encompassing the study of natural sciences, social sciences, arts and the humanities and enabling customised concentrations. With the LASE programme, we want to give students the flexibility to choose any course they want. The liberal arts is an internationally-proven pathway to better specialisation and enhanced job opportunities no matter what the field.
The LASE program will enable the cultivation of diverse all-round proficiencies for those wanting to explore different fields, strike out in new directions or pursue untrammelled paths. Today’s complex problems from climate change to AI to global pandemics require broad foundations plus technical depth for effective innovation and leadership. This program also enables the freedom to specialise in ground-breaking, cross-cutting fields such as AI and EdTech or Healthcare Engineering.
We hope that the LASE program will become an exemplar for a new style of undergraduate education.
Sincerely,
Anurag Mehra