Gauri Chhabra
The corporate landscape of today requires well rounded personalities who maintain equipoise and are able to take the challenges they come across head on. This calls for a corresponding change in the education system. There has been a paradigm shift in the education system calling for a cross integration of subjects and disciplines like management and human resources to go with engineering programs. We took the leap into integrated courses a few years ago and today it is the time to pause and reflect where we are as far as integrated courses are concerned.
Course Cursor
Integrated courses come in various disciplines, from engineering to humanities. An integrated study program has a curriculum that includes the content, which is jointly designed by two or more higher education disciplines, and regulated by a specific set of guidelines. Generally, a double degree is a five-year program. However, there are exceptions where they last for just four years while other programs have an even longer duration.
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) offer five-year integrated Master of Science (M.Sc.) and Master of Arts (M.A.) programs, and dual degree programs, which allow Master of Technology (M.Tech) students to graduate in five years by combining their Bachelor of Technology program, typically four years, with the M.Tech, which takes two years. The Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IISST) offers a five-year integrated Master’s program in Applied Sciences (M.Sc) with special emphasis on space-related subjects.The primary focus is on the integration of undergraduate learning with cutting edge research in an interdisciplinary manner while dovetailing latest in science.
The National Law School of India University offers a five-year combined Bachelor of Art (BA)/Bachelor of Law (LL.B. (Hons.)) degree program. Most of the National Law Universities offer similar degree structures, while also offering new combined LL.B options such as Bachelor of Science (B.Sc)/LL.B. (Hons); Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com)/LL.B. (Hons.); and Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A)/LL.B. (Hons).
Institutes offering integrated PhD programs
* The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, also provides integrated Ph.D. programs in material science, chemical science and biological science for meritorious graduates in science and engineering. (www.jncasr.ac.in/admit)
* IISERs in Thiruvananthapuram and Pune offer integrated Ph.D. programs.
* The S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, conducts an integrated M.Sc.- Ph.D. program in physical sciences for graduates.
* IIT-Kanpur offering M.Sc.- Ph.D
* The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
* Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar
* Nuclear Sciences Centre, New Delhi
* Indian Institute of Astro Physics, Bangalore
* Harish Chandra Research Laboratory Allahabad
* Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad provide research facilities in physics and related subjects.
The need
The gnawing gap between the industry and the academia, the talent crunch and the decoupling of classroom curriculum and the needs of the corporate world needs a program that helps students apply the knowledge they have gained, develop lateral thinking and problem solving attitude and a strategic well rounded approach towards real world problems and challenges. Encouraging multiple disciplinary perspectives, building corridors between classrooms and corporate rooms,and enhancing student engagement through Whole Brain Learning calls for an integrated course .
If you wish to apply to an integrated program, you must demonstrate a sharp focus and an airtight commitment to both fields of study. You need to have a razor sharp focus and a lateral thinking that can switch gears.
Student speaks
One of the main attractions of integrated programs is their multidisciplinary approach to learning. Ujjwal Nagaich, a second semester studentof BA LLB at Alliance College of Law, Bangalore, says.”My law-school education teaches me not only to excel in the practice of the law, it also widens my horizons in terms of thinking laterally and communicating effectively. It enables me to venture into areas that were traditionally the domains of the Management Graduates.Students like us who choose the program, take on defined periods of study in each discipline, in terms of duration and content.Besides, we also have the opportunity to do internships in all five years that makes us touch base with the industry and experience things first hand.”
He sums up the distinct advantages in terms of a balanced approach to theoretical and practical aspects of law; whole brain learning; and grounding in social sciences that would give a lawyer a holistic perspective to his role as a facilitator of problem solving.
The Integrated Edge
As an Integrated degree holder, you will be credentialed in two fields. You would be at an edge in the job market as you offer employers a range of management and training skills and a breadth of field-specific knowledge that the employers are looking for. Your visibility increasesand you can have a leverage when it comes to negotiating salaries and positions.
It also saves time as you can spend at least one year less than if the two programs were pursued separately. This is especially true in the case of five-year integrated B.Tech/M.Tech programs and integrated Ph.D programs. However, this might not hold true for the five-year integrated M.Sc programs. Their duration is the same as if the B.Sc (3 years) and M.Sc (2 years) were pursued in water tight compartments.
The flip side
The integrated programs do not come without a rider.Not all integrated programs award intermediate degrees. For example, students from integrated law programs can exit with a simple B.A. degree after completing three years but those in the dual degree programs at IITs cannot exit with a B.Tech degree or transfer to a traditional B.Tech degree program at the same institution. Limited flexibility, however, allows them to change their proposed field of specialization in the fourth year of the program.At times if it is an integrated program, the fee of the first three years is nominal and it suddenly is hiked in the last 2 years. The students are neither prepared for such a steep hike nor a shift in the curriculum. These programs are also designed in such a way that you can exit from the program at a predefined stage and earn one degree. Therefore, the exit route is followed defeating the purpose of an integrated program.
The final word
Those of you who aspire to an integrated course must give careful consideration to the academic requirements of both programs and weigh the potential professional gains before committing to the additional time and expense of taking on two graduate programs. It is also essential that you demonstrate a keen insight into both the fields of pursuit and can tie your goals to them.
The Road Ahead
The coming decade is going to be the decade of Integrated programs with the growing need for professionals to equip themselves with the depth and breadth of the domains under study. As the economy transforms to knowledge rich and skills specific , the trend will escalate in the form of an accelerated integrated field of study.
Therefore, if you want to be ‘industry ready’ with managerial skills pave your way to an Integrated Program… now…
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