What's so Liberal about Liberal Education : Lesson 1

 When I heard the term Liberal Education in 2013, I wondered what’s so Liberal about Liberal Education. I will be writing about this, as a series in my next couple blogs.

This is not an Academic enquiry into the idea of Liberal Education but a viewpoint of what I have observed during the last decade in my various roles at Azim Premji University.

When my colleague said, Liberal Education – “To Liberate you from the clutches of other forms of higher education”- I did not quite appreciate it. Presenting today are the career pathways of classmates who went through a Liberal Education programme.

 All of them Majored in Biology but what is interesting is what they chose to do after graduation:

First student N was deeply interested in Biology and enrolled for a PhD programme at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS).

The  second student R was in love with  data analysis and went ahead to pursue a postgraduation in Bio-Informatics. She is now working as a Clinical programmer in a pharma company. Yes, you read it right –Clinical programmer and not a business application programmer.

Finally, the third student A joined a large Philanthropic organization and worked in the field of Science and Language Education for more than 3 years. She is now pursuing a MSc in Education in Finland.

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So probably the true essence of Liberal Education is the various possibilities that would open up for the graduates, rather than restricting / preparing them for a sector or industry.

So Lesson-1 of Liberal Education : Opens up a world of possibilities after graduation.

So how did this happen if they all Majored in Biology – Does it have something to do with the Course structure & Curriculum – That’s in my next post.

Picture courtesy : The Murals adoring the seminar halls of Bengaluru Campus of Azim Premji University. Watch the Video here.