Now, course on love and more at Presidency varsity
5 Aug 2013 11:18 PM GMT
Come New Year, students at the prestigious Presidency University in Kolkata can opt for a course on the enigma and theories of love, its vice-chancellor said on Sunday, which happened to be Friendship Day as well, adding that this was part of the new interdisciplinary studies programme.
‘The new course on love will deal with its sociological implications and will begin from the next semester in January,’ Malabika Sarkar, vice-chancellor of Presidency University told reporters.
‘The course will be taught by the university’s sociology department. It will basically deal with the theoretical aspects of love,’ Sarkar said.
The university has begun an initiative since July this year to introduce students to a variety of topics, irrespective of their major subject, becoming the first university in the country to break down the strict boundaries of different subjects and instead offer interdisciplinary courses to fire up the mental engines of its students.
Under this programme, the science students can get a taste of liberal arts, and, correspondingly, those delving into humanities can take up a science subject.
‘This is the first such initiative in the country. In the traditional Indian university education system, honours students are required to take up two pass subjects... We have replaced the pass subjects,’ professor Somak Raychaudhury, head of the university’s physics department had said earlier.
Raychaudhury said the decision to juxtapose the two branches was taken as students do not take pass subjects seriously, giving them only perfunctory attention, thus developing inadequate understanding of several key subjects.
‘So, instead of forcing pass subjects on students, we decided to break them up and have a list of 10 papers. All the honours students are required to take up 10 papers. While the science students are needed to take at least two arts papers, it is vice versa for students of humanities,’ the professor explained.
For example, the physics department has introduced a course, ‘Physics of Everyday Life’, under which students, irrespective of the stream they are majoring in, are taught how things like a camera work.
‘The course is open to everybody. An English literature student can take it up. Similarly, the sociology department is offering a subject called ‘Love’ that students from other departments can study,’ the professor said.
‘The new course on love will deal with its sociological implications and will begin from the next semester in January,’ Malabika Sarkar, vice-chancellor of Presidency University told reporters.
‘The course will be taught by the university’s sociology department. It will basically deal with the theoretical aspects of love,’ Sarkar said.
The university has begun an initiative since July this year to introduce students to a variety of topics, irrespective of their major subject, becoming the first university in the country to break down the strict boundaries of different subjects and instead offer interdisciplinary courses to fire up the mental engines of its students.
Under this programme, the science students can get a taste of liberal arts, and, correspondingly, those delving into humanities can take up a science subject.
‘This is the first such initiative in the country. In the traditional Indian university education system, honours students are required to take up two pass subjects... We have replaced the pass subjects,’ professor Somak Raychaudhury, head of the university’s physics department had said earlier.
Raychaudhury said the decision to juxtapose the two branches was taken as students do not take pass subjects seriously, giving them only perfunctory attention, thus developing inadequate understanding of several key subjects.
‘So, instead of forcing pass subjects on students, we decided to break them up and have a list of 10 papers. All the honours students are required to take up 10 papers. While the science students are needed to take at least two arts papers, it is vice versa for students of humanities,’ the professor explained.
For example, the physics department has introduced a course, ‘Physics of Everyday Life’, under which students, irrespective of the stream they are majoring in, are taught how things like a camera work.
‘The course is open to everybody. An English literature student can take it up. Similarly, the sociology department is offering a subject called ‘Love’ that students from other departments can study,’ the professor said.
Next Story
