MDU’s golden jubilee push: ‘Design your degree’ plan to let students tailor learning pathways

In its Golden Jubilee year, Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, upon receiving Gold Category Award in implementation of NEP by Haryana State Higher Education Council is preparing a National Education Policy (NEP)-aligned reform blueprint that could introduce a more flexible framework tentatively titled ‘Design Your Degree’.

The proposal, which is in the process of being recast so as to align with Indian context and regional needs, is mainly targeted towards giving students more freedom of choice in their studies without diluting the academic structure. The university intends to execute the programme with the academic and technical assistance of the Centre for Curriculum Design and Development (CCDD), MDU, which will be the main referral for programme design, outcome mapping, credit architecture and common assessment frameworks.

Officials conveyed that the plan is to move away from overly exam, focused education to a model in which the emphasis will be on projects, portfolios, internships and community, based assignments for both learning as well as evaluation. Students would be able to select elective baskets and skill tracks aligned with their interests and career plans, enabling combinations across disciplines—ranging from entrepreneurship and business innovation to data analytics, AI-enabled applications, communication skills, tourism, sustainability and creative domains.

The proposed structure is expected to include clear credit pathways, defined prerequisites and academic advising, so students can build majors/minors and competency-based skill outcomes in a systematic way. University sources said the CCDD will develop standard templates for course outlines, project rubrics and quality assurance mechanisms to maintain uniformity across departments while still allowing innovation.

MDU officials have declared the proposal to be just one aspect of a whole revamp plan to celebrate the Golden Jubilee year which would integrate classroom learning with real, world problem, solving and employability.

The proposal also intends to tighten the connection with industry and public institutions in Haryana so that students get to associate their academic pursuits with the local issues like heritage and tourism, entrepreneurship, sustainability, digital services and community development.

A comprehensive plan with all the aspects such as pilot departments, elective baskets, assessment formats and rollout timelines is under preparation and will be submitted to the statutory bodies for approval according to the university norms.