Roadmap to inclusive curriculum: a step towards Multidisciplinary Engineering Education for holistic development

One of the key aspects to measure the prosperity of any nation in this global economy can be its leadership in technology & innovation. Engineering is applied everywhere; from the design and development of novel products and processes to providing solutions to complex challenges. Engineering education is therefore of key significance to a growing economy. With a prime focus on improving quality and providing holistic development of learners, developments are taking place worldwide in Engineering education & research. The term 'learners' indicate students and has been used interchangeably in the entire script.

Purpose: National Education Policy 2020 of the Government of India proposed reforms to the existing education framework of the country and emphasized on introducing multidisciplinary undergraduate programmes with multiple exit options. This study proposes an inclusive curriculum with different course types from multiple disciplines for an undergraduate engineering programme and articulates the relevance of the framework to foster holistic development.

Research Methodology: The study incorporates a structured design approach where inputs from senior leaders of 60 Universities offering undergraduate programmes formed the basis of the preliminary work. The academic framework was designed under the regulations and guidelines of the statutory body for technical programmes. On successful implementation, a research instrument was administered to a cohort of learners of an undergraduate engineering programme, and the data collected was then analysed.

Findings: From the findings, we infer that a multidisciplinary engineering programme would enhance research skills and enable the learners to selfmanage to a great extent along with developing their critical thinking skills. The results are statistically significant with p<0.05.

Implications of the Study: This study would help Universities and Higher Education Institutions to explore the possibilities of provisioning courses from diversified disciplines in an Engineering curriculum to promote multi-disciplinarity. The findings from the study would be beneficial to the learners to realize the potential of multidisciplinary education and accordingly pursue their career aspirations. The study provides an insight into competencies to be developed through the framework of a four-year undergraduate engineering programme thereby enabling Industry practitioners to reorient the job roles that thrive in the future.