Some people believe that universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student s field of study Others believe that universities should not force students to take any courses other than those that will help prepare the

As the job market is becoming more and more competitive, the role of university degree is becoming even more imperative. The main onus lies on universities to prepare graduates entering the challenging market fully equipped to play their role effectively. Universities try their best to design a curriculum that incorporates the changing needs of job market. There are differing views regarding what courses should be added in the curriculum and what should be the best possible combination of courses for a degree. There is one view that suggests that students should be made to learn about the courses only pertaining to their field of study. On contrary, the view is that to cope up with the diversity of job market, students should be equipped with variety of courses even outside the realm of their field. Both the positions have their pros and cons but the problems that we are facing in today’s world requires interdisciplinary solutions which can only come if we have field experts with some knowledge of other disciplines as well.
Students pursue higher education to become experts in their chosen field. Therefore, they expect to learn about specific discipline and then apply that knowledge on a real world problem to provide solutions to the society. For instance, if a student gets in college to become a software engineer, he is most likely expected to work on software development in the future. That software can be for some research in economics, some service in health care, any banking institution or any other industry. It is then nearly impossible for this engineer to develop a product without learning about the requirements and issues in that particular industry, hence, strongly require basic know-how of these subjects. He will need to know about the problems economists are trying to solve or the basic medical procedures if the software is for that particular service and so on.
The 21st century has brought the interdisciplinary sciences to the lime light by stressing the need to have all rounder in the professional world. For instance, the engineers and natural scientists are expected to have start-ups which require entrepreneurial skills, financial expertise, project management skills, and general know-how of market. This makes it inevitable to inculcate these skills during degree so that he will be better poised to face these challenges. Therefore, a professional degree holder should be taught about basics of business, communications, ethics, law and other aspects of social sciences that can help him adjust well in the practical world.
Interestingly, this is not just the case with natural scientists. Even the social scientists like economists, public policy experts, sociologists and political scientists need to know the basics of natural sciences. They are the future leaders who will be making decisions or proposing policies for the general interest of masses. They need to be aware of other professions at least the basic of what the challenges are and what exactly is the other field all about. For example, a public policy expert must know how the economy works to make the policies relevant and financially stable. An economist while proposing to reduce per unit costs should have some idea whether technically that is possible or not. Hence, isolated study in a university will produce graduates who will be completely blackout about the world outside their domain and thus will not be able to perform optimally.
The proponents of specialization courses only focusing on the main field often argue that job market requires specialists of their fields. They hire a team that is responsible for each aspect of a task or a project like financial expert, technical expert, marketing expert and etc. Therefore, students should not be required to study other domain’s courses. However, the counter argument can be that in order to work in cohesion, to make each team member understand the details and to effectively communicate the ideas, one has to be well equipped with the basic prior knowledge of other’s domains as well. Moreover, it will create an environment of mutual understanding and trust which is a catalyst for higher productivity.
Another argument is often deliberated that students will be burdened with courses from other fields; most often they are not even interested in studying those courses and thus it will be an additional luggage for them. This point is valid to some extent, but one need to understand that there is a cut throat competition out there in the market. These additional skills make students stand out from those who are just specialists with no understanding outside their field of study. Thus students will need to put in more effort in order to create an impression on the potential employers. Moreover, students have the potential, energy and enough motivation to work on their skills as much as humanly possible in order to reap benefits later in the job market.
The employers expectations from students and the rising level of competition in the job market is calling for a graduate degree holder with diverse skill set that not only includes his field of study but also comprises of at least basic knowledge of other fields. There is now demand for master of one and jack of all in the job market and the only way to prepare students for this change is to make them study the basic courses from outside their field of study. This will produce all rounder and more dynamic graduates who will be able to understand other’s work better thus making working environment productive and conducive for all.