Mandatory course on ‘social responsibility and community engagement’ for UG, PG students soon

Students will be awarded credits for participating in such activities ranging from research projects to teaching, under this new curriculum. Under this, students will learn local wisdom from the community, understand their problems and can collectively devise solutions for the same.

The Indian higher education institutes (HEIs) will soon have a new mandatory subject on ‘social responsibility and community engagement’ for all undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recommended all higher education institutes (HEIs) to devise a new curriculum or update the existing one to impart these values in students.

The UGC has not only approved guidelines but has also asked every institute to nominate at least two faculty members each to take part in workshops to understand the implementation of the subject. For unified implementation, the UGC is holding workshops for teachers across the country, to be held from mid-December to January 31, 2020.

Each institute has been asked to nominate two teachers and share innovative methods to incorporate ‘community engagement and social responsibility’ skills in students. The UGC, in a letter to all the vice-chancellors, has asked them to devise a mechanism to adopt the subject for their students. Selected successful ideas will be shared during the workshops.

Students will be awarded credits for participating in such activities, ranging from research projects to teaching, under this new curriculum. Students will learn local wisdom from the community, understand their problems and collectively devise solutions for the same.

The goal, as per the UGC, is to promote deeper interaction between institutes and local communities. The objective of the curriculum, states UGC, “is to ensure that community engagement is not seen as a standalone activity and is integrated with the regular curriculum of the university”.