The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Deemed-to-be University, Hyderabad, has inaugurated ICFAI School of Social Sciences on March 23, 2023. Dr C Rangarajan, Chancellor of the University delivered the inaugural address virtually. He welcomed the idea of setting up a separate School for Social Sciences at ICFAI. He further said that bringing in multidisciplinary education should not dilute the teaching of various disciplines as they have developed over the years. He emphasised that the subjects should be taught how they were taught and should be taught well.
Dr Mahendra Dev, Distinguished Professor, ICFAI Business School Hyderabad and Former Director and Vice Chancellor, IGIDR, in his keynote address said, that all the social sciences are interlinked and the social science education would equip and empower students with broad understanding and knowledge on behavior, cultures, societies, inclusiveness, social justice, etc. He said that ICFAI School of Social Sciences needs to promote understanding of diversity and culture in the country and foster national integration and constitutional values. He said that the School should focus on areas like Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals, Circular Economy, Social Innovation and Startups.
Prof J Mahender Reddy, Distinguished Advisor, ICFAI Group, spoke about the genesis of ICFAI School of Social Sciences. He said that the School is carved out from the existing Department of Economics of the University and soon the school would include other disciplines like psychology, sociology and political science. Prof Reddy said that different disciplines need to be integrated to bring in multidisciplinarity within and between faculties, in line with the National Education Policy, 2020.
Vice Chancellor of the University, Dr L S Ganesh, spoke about the challenges in social sciences. The department has 23 faculty all holding a doctorate degree in Economics. The new School would focus on teaching, practice, research and field action projects.
