Why IIT Bombay’s liberal arts programme for engineering undergrads has not found takers

What is the LASE programme at IIT Bombay?

LASE stands for Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, and Engineering, and was a one-of-its-kind multidisciplinary program launched by IIT Bombay in 2021. It was aimed at giving the undergraduate students a chance to move out of their respective engineering departments at the end of first year, and customise their degree as per their interests.

The students under LASE would graduate with a Bachelor of Science at the end of four years in one of the following: Natural Sciences; Engineering Sciences; Social Sciences; Art and Design. The institute promised to assign each student with a faculty advisor to help them choose and customise their coursework.

The idea behind the programme was to give greater flexibility to students who may be interested in disciplines other than their respective streams of engineering.

The programme was slated to begin in 2022, after having admitted the first set of students from the batch of 2021 at the end of their first year.

How is the LASE programme different from a conventional BTech degree at IIT Bombay?

While students were free to enrol in courses from other departments at IIT Bombay earlier too, the number of such courses was limited by the requirements of their respective streams of engineering.

Under LASE, however, a student could take any number of courses from any department at IIT Bombay. As per the programme design, students admitted to LASE, in their second year at IIT Bombay, have to study five courses including modern South Asian history, history of science, inequality and society, analytical reading and writing, and digital lives. The remaining courses can be from any department of the institute.

An undergraduate student pursuing an engineering degree at IIT Bombay graduates with a Bachelors of Technology (BTech) at the end of four years, while a student admitted to a LASE programme would graduate with a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. Depending on the number and type of courses done, a student would be granted a BS in either Natural Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Social Sciences, or Art & Design.

“A student can choose to do courses aimed at any one concentration out of the four from second year onwards, or just choose whatever courses they want. A committee will then take a look into the courses a student has done at the end of four years, and decide the concentration,” said Anurag Mehra, a professor at IIT Bombay’s Chemical Engineering department who spearheads LASE and is head of the 12-member committee that designed the programme. “We plan to build in a lot of faculty advising. Students should know what they’re aiming for,” he added.

How can a student get admitted to the LASE programme?

Students could migrate to LASE from their respective streams of engineering at the end of first year, after having gone through the selection process. Movement to LASE is akin to a branch-change in that sense, a practice prevalent across most IITs — where students can change their branch at the end of first year on the basis of their CGPA. Students at IIT Bombay begin studying the courses under their respective branch only from second year onwards, and study common subjects in their first year.

The programme was to select about 30 students, who would then take up courses from different departments at IIT Bombay. The selection process has changed in the last two years in a bid to attract applicants.

In 2022, the students had to write a test, submit a SoP, and appear for an interview in order to be selected for the programme. In 2023, however, the selection was solely based on the CGPA of the students.

Why could the program not commence in the past two years?

The programme was not met with as much enthusiasm as its makers had hoped for. As a result, the number of students who made it to LASE in 2022 and 2023 (3 and 6 respectively) were less than the minimum number required to run any course at IIT Bombay i.e. 10.

“We’d decided to keep the minimum number at 10 after some discussion in the Senate. In 2022, we lowered it to 6 due to the pandemic, but only 3 students made the cut. In 2023, we kept it at 10, but only 6 students made the cut. And there’s a general norm of not starting any course with less than 5 students, because it becomes a waste of resources,” Anurag Mehra said.

Students The Indian Express spoke to cited a number of reasons for the low levels of interest, ranging from their apprehensions about a BS degree in LASE instead of a traditional BTech degree from an IIT, the risk aversion towards something novel and unfamiliar, and the dismissal of “liberal arts” as a concept.

The professor in-charge of the programme told The Indian Express that the BS vs BTech divide was “too deeply entrenched.” Another professor said that the students were very risk-averse, and that the core committee behind the programme had made an error of judgement in thinking they would apply in larger numbers.

Why was the programme conceived?

The programme was conceived, as professors told The Indian Express, in response to the lack of interest amongst students towards their respective streams of engineering. It aimed to provide an alternative of a “choice-based” education to a student at IIT Bombay, as opposed to a predefined branch of engineering.

The programme also came on the back of the New Education Policy advocating for “multidisciplinary education”. The recently released school curriculum framework, following from NEP, allows students to choose subjects across streams of Science, Arts, and Commerce in Classes 11 and 12—in line with the multidisciplinary approach.

What’s next for LASE?

With IIT Bombay having discontinued branch changes from next year onwards, owing to the suicide of a first-year-student earlier this year; how LASE will function is yet to be decided.

The Deputy Director of the Institute, Professor S Sudarshan, however, told this newspaper that the institute will continue offering LASE as an option to its students. “It’s an opportunity given to the students. We’ll continue giving that opportunity,” Sudarshan said.