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    ADMISSIONS OPEN 2025







    School of Liberal Arts

    A Transformative
    Pedagogy

    The School of Liberal Studies, BML Munjal University, offers its students a new experience – hitherto not offered to University undergraduate students in India. The experience is titled Immersion, and it needs to be distinguished from two of its close kin: internship and fieldwork.

    In an internship, the student chooses the institution or organisation where she wishes to intern. Internships are usually short, lasting between 1 and 2 months. The Immersion site, on the other hand, is not chosen by the student. It will be offered to the student as a site of experience, and the student shall be immersed at the site (as much as possible) without pre-determined theories or conceptual priori-s.

    In fieldwork, the research question is set beforehand. Based on the research question one looks for an appropriate field. In Immersion, the student does not go to the immersion site with a pre-determined research question. The research question emerges from the context, from lifeworlds and life stories and is informed by the worldview of the community at the immersion site.

    In addition to gathering knowledge from the below, we also envision doing a transformative praxis – however micro- however limited. Our Immersion pedagogy thus brings to dialogue the questions of knowing and doing as well as questions of knowing and ‘being’. One faces questions like, who am I? How privileged am I? What is marginality? What is social disadvantage? What are the kinds of marginality and disadvantages at work in my immersion site? How is it different from the kind of privileges I have? Are there unexpected rhythms of joy, togetherness, sharing, interdependence, care, concern, and co-living? Inculcating such self-awareness within the community of scholars remains an important objective at SOLS.

    Students at SoLS explore Immersive pedagogy throughout their 4 years of journey. The Immersion module is in sync with the larger requirements of the SoLS credit framework. The flagship interdisciplinary minors like Data and measurement, Child and Youth Study or Human Ecology are based on immersion pedagogy. Similarly, courses like Engaging Diversity are also based on immersive pedagogy.

    Philosophy of Immersion

    Our work at SOLS on Immersion stems from three departures:

    we have doubts regarding the extractive and appropriative nature of research on the gendered subaltern; what would it be to move from research on to research with; what would it be to not make the gendered subaltern a mere object of research. What would it be to invert the relationship between ‘research question’ and ‘field’; where the finding of the

    we have doubts regarding the extractive and appropriative nature of research on the gendered subaltern; what would it be to move from research on to research with; what would it be to not make the gendered subaltern a mere object of research. What would it be to invert the relationship between ‘research question’ and ‘field’; where the finding of the

    we have doubts regarding the extractive and appropriative nature of research on the gendered subaltern; what would it be to move from research on to research with; what would it be to not make the gendered subaltern a mere object of research. What would it be to invert the relationship between ‘research question’ and ‘field’; where the finding of the

    Inter-disciplinary Minor & Immersion Module
    Design based on SoLS credit structure

    The Immersion module needs to be in sync with the larger requirements of the SoLS credit framework. The inter-disciplinary minor should be offered while allowing students to complete the Foundational basket of courses as well as get introduced to various majors.

    As per the Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes, ‘Minor stream courses can be from the 3rd 300 or above level and 50% of the total credits from minors must be secured in the relevant subject/discipline and another 50% of the total credits from a minor can be earned from any discipline as per students’ choice.’

    Based on the above, the interdisciplinary minors consist of 16 credits, of which 8-12 credits can be completed on the field as part of the Immersion Module. Examples of interdisciplinary minors are Child and Youth Cultures, Human Ecology, and Data and Measurement.

    SOLS Credit Structure

    Cat Course Minimum Credit Requirement
    3-year UG 4-year UG
    1 Major 60 credits 80 credits
    2 Inter-disciplinary Minor 24 32
    3 Multidisciplinary (e.g., General Ed courses, or Foundations) 9 9
    4 Ability Enhancement Courses (AEC) (demonstrated proficiency in one Modern Indian languages as well as English) 8 8
    5 Value Added Courses (VAC) common for all UG (SA Hist, Enviro, Health) 6-8 6-8
    6 Skill Enhancement Courses (SEC) 9 9
    7 Summer Internship 2.4 2.4
    8 Research/Dissertation - 12
    Total Credits 120 Credits 160 Credits

    Tentative mapping of courses:

    Fall Semester Winter Semester Credits Earned by
    Categories
    Reason and Logic (GE-3)) Self and Identity (GE-3) GE-7
    Writing/Reading Seminar-1 (AEC-4) Writing/Reading Seminar-2 (AEC-4) AEC-8
    South Asia in Global History (VAC-3) Introduction to Methods (SEC-4) SEC-8
    Reason and Logic Workshop (SEC-1) India and its Environs (GE-3) VAC-6
    Writing/Reading Seminar workshop (SEC-1) Introduction to Philosophy (Maj-2) Maj-4
    Introduction to Economics (Maj 2) Listening, Receiving, Communicating (Maj -2) Min-8
    Thinking like a Sociologist (Maj 2) Writing/Reading Seminar workshop (SEC-1)
    Curriculum Workshop (SEC-1)
    Fall Semester Winter Semester Credits Earned by
    Categories
    Reason and Logic (GE-3)) Self and Identity (GE-3) GE-7
    Writing/Reading Seminar-1 (AEC-4) Writing/Reading Seminar-2 (AEC-4) AEC-8
    South Asia in Global History (VAC-3) Introduction to Methods (SEC-4) SEC-8
    Reason and Logic Workshop (SEC-1) India and its Environs (GE-3) VAC-6
    Writing/Reading Seminar workshop (SEC-1) Introduction to Philosophy (Maj-2) Maj-4
    Introduction to Economics (Maj 2) Listening, Receiving, Communicating (Maj -2) Min-8
    Thinking like a Sociologist (Maj 2) Writing/Reading Seminar workshop (SEC-1)
    Curriculum Workshop (SEC-1)
    Fall Semester Winter Semester Credits Earned by
    Categories
    Reason and Logic (GE-3)) Self and Identity (GE-3) GE-7
    Writing/Reading Seminar-1 (AEC-4) Writing/Reading Seminar-2 (AEC-4) AEC-8
    South Asia in Global History (VAC-3) Introduction to Methods (SEC-4) SEC-8
    Reason and Logic Workshop (SEC-1) India and its Environs (GE-3) VAC-6
    Writing/Reading Seminar workshop (SEC-1) Introduction to Philosophy (Maj-2) Maj-4
    Introduction to Economics (Maj 2) Listening, Receiving, Communicating (Maj -2) Min-8
    Thinking like a Sociologist (Maj 2) Writing/Reading Seminar workshop (SEC-1)
    Curriculum Workshop (SEC-1)
    Fall Semester Winter Semester Credits Earned by
    Categories
    Reason and Logic (GE-3)) Self and Identity (GE-3) GE-7
    Writing/Reading Seminar-1 (AEC-4) Writing/Reading Seminar-2 (AEC-4) AEC-8
    South Asia in Global History (VAC-3) Introduction to Methods (SEC-4) SEC-8
    Reason and Logic Workshop (SEC-1) India and its Environs (GE-3) VAC-6
    Writing/Reading Seminar workshop (SEC-1) Introduction to Philosophy (Maj-2) Maj-4
    Introduction to Economics (Maj 2) Listening, Receiving, Communicating (Maj -2) Min-8
    Thinking like a Sociologist (Maj 2) Writing/Reading Seminar workshop (SEC-1)
    Curriculum Workshop (SEC-1)