In its inaugural year, Sai University will offer a combination of subjects from B.A. literature and B.A. social science to B. Sc courses.
Candidates, who pursue B.A. literature, may take both English and Tamil together or separately and study music, philosophy, visual arts and women and gender studies. A candidate choosing B. Sc will study astronomy, physics and space science, besides biological science, cognitive neuroscience, computer science, data science, environmental science and mathematics.
Courses offered in the B. Tech programme will include computer science, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, cyber security and block chain.
B.A. social science comprises of child development, economics, environmental policy (jointly with the law school), history and political science, international relations and psychology. The university’s LLM programme, includes foundational and specialisation courses. It offers three course clusters besides the Daksha Fellowship in Technology, Law and Policy, and disputes and regulatory practice.
There are interdisciplinary major and minor courses in digital arts and media; digital humanities; digital imaging; computational finance; and public health analytics (BSc).
Vice-chancellor Jamshed Bharucha developed the course structures based on his experience as a student in erstwhile Bombay. A cognitive neuroscientist and the first Indian-American dean of Dartmouth, an Ivy League college, he says these are exciting times for education in India, adding, “There is traction on ideas about liberal education and the National Education Policy endorses those ideas.”
Subject combinations were chosen with the aim of evidence-based approach to education reform. “It would prepare creative students for next-generation jobs or start companies. It is a historic opportunity to take data science approach to public health. Most other countries have done this,” he says.
Students will be challenged to create and solve problems, do projects and participate in group discussions, with the teacher as a guide.
One of the features is the study abroad programme, where students would have opportunities to intern with non-governmental organisations addressing global challenges.
Sherman Teichman, an expert in international education, is among the faculty. The Teichman Model allows for students from abroad to work alongside Indian students on projects of global relevance.
“There is tremendous interest in getting involved in projects in India. India is a superpower, and the breeding ground for the brains of the world. There is admiration and puzzlement at the abject poverty,” says Mr. Bharucha, who left India as he could not study music with science in college.
