Latest news with #ArunaSankaranarayanan
The Hindu
10-06-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Acquiring multidisciplinary skills for expanding career opportunities is important, say experts
Experts on Tuesday (June 10, 2025) emphasised the importance of acquiring multidisciplinary skills for expanding career opportunities and world views, building character, and fostering empathy and intellectual humility. They were speaking at a webinar on 'Beyond Boundaries: How Multidisciplinary Learning Prepares for a Complex World', organised jointly by the SRM Institute of Science and Technology and The Hindu. Vinay Kumar, Pro Vice-Chancellor at SRM Institute of Technology, said the National Education Policy has provided the biggest fillip to multidisciplinary education in India. 'While multidisciplinary education is still in the developmental stage and not fully evolved, every institution is coming up with its own method of providing multidisciplinary courses,' he said. Such education also expands employment opportunities, as companies look for interns and workers with different kinds of problem-solving skills and abilities, he added. Aruna Sankaranarayanan, Visiting Faculty at the School of Education, Azim Premji University, said disciplinary boundaries are artificial. Stating that there are commonalities between disciplines that seem disparate on the surface, she gave the example of mathematics and art. 'Both deal with shapes, sizes, symmetry and proportion,' she said. She spoke of how people with multi-disciplinary skill sets have succeeded in their careers. 'Venki Ramakrishnan did a Ph.D. in physics, moved to biology, and finally won a Nobel Prize in chemistry. Similarly, Steve Jobs pursued a course in calligraphy, which later helped him design the logo of the Macintosh interface,' she said. On whether online learning and distance education can help students pick up multidisciplinary courses, Ms. Sankaranarayanan said that while online courses are useful, not many institutions may be offering multi-disciplinary courses online. Mr. Kumar agreed that online education has limited programmes. He said that distance programmes exist but may not be guided. The speakers also spoke about the role of technology in facilitating multi-disciplinary learning and the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI). This webinar can be viewed at
The Hindu
07-06-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
SRMIST, The Hindu to hold third webinar on multidisciplinary learning on June 10
The SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), in collaboration with The Hindu, will organise the third webinar in their series on Future Career Conversations on June 10. Titled 'Beyond Boundaries: How Multidisciplinary Learning Prepares You for a Complex World', the session will dwell upon the growing relevance of integrated learning across disciplines, especially humanities and sciences. The session, which starts at 11.30 a.m., will seek to address questions pertaining to the choice of the right course or stream to balance student interests and future prospects, the kind of learning to face the fast-evolving world, and how humanities and sciences work together to shape better career and life outcomes. The panel will include Prof. A. Vinay Kumar, Pro Vice Chancellor, Science and Humanities, Law and Management, SRMIST, and Aruna Sankaranarayanan, author and visiting faculty, School of Education, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. The session will be moderated by Radhika Santhanam, Senior Assistant Editor, The Hindu. Registration can be done at
