Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior based on robust research methods. The psychology major in the School of Liberal Arts and Humanities at O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) is designed to provide you with the knowledge, skills and awareness required to apply psychological principles to the world around you. While retaining the essence of a scientist practitioner model which emphasizes theoretical knowledge and practical skills, the psychology major embedded within the BALH program amalgamates this traditional approach with inter-disciplinarity. It is geared towards training students to conceptualize complex world phenomena though a psychological lens rooted in a multidisciplinary perspective.
This approach draws upon knowledge, perspectives and methods drawn from the arts and sciences. Creating course content that examines the intersection between psychology and other disciplines provides scope for divergent disciplinary perspectives that foster essential graduate attributes of critical thinking for problem solving as well as generate curiosity for lifelong learning in an ever-changing world. Combined with an experiential pedagogy that places emphasis on self-reflection and analysis, we believe that our students are well equipped to pursue graduate studies in psychology as well as branch out to explore the interconnections within psychology and related disciplines, whether it be through professional commitments, research or academic pursuits.
Business has emerged as the most significant contributor to GDP. A 2021 McKinsey Global Institute report estimates business contributing 62% to the GDP in OECD countries. In addition, expanding international trade has been a key driver of international business. Exponential technologies are ushering new paradigms in every aspect of business. The opportunities, challenges, and complexities of starting, managing and growing a business therefore offer options that are intellectually stimulating, professionally enriching, and personally rewarding. The International Business Major at JSLH is unique in that it is situated in a Liberal Arts milieu and therefore benefits from the interdisciplinary nature of all the foundation courses and offers pathways which are unlikely in traditional business programs. As an example, you may have an opportunity to integrate your understanding of various foundational liberal arts disciplines such as psychology, economics, sociology, environment & sustainability, philosophy, and others, during discussions in an IB class. This interdisciplinary and integrative nature enables you explore aspects of business from the perspective of diverse and multiple stakeholders thereby preparing you to become a more aware agent of change to make business a force for good.
The Economics major at JSLH aims to instil fundamental economic thinking in an interdisciplinary set-up. Economics is traditionally understood as the ‘science of humans as a relationship between ends and scarce means with alternative uses’ (Lionel Robbins, 1932). In addition to internalizing these micro aspects of human behavior, students are also introduced to macroeconomics. The students are then trained in applying this dual perspective- micro and macroeconomics in various economic aspects, including political (Political Economy), developmental (Development Economics), and environmental (Environmental Economics), among many others. A crucial advantage of an Economics major is the training in numerous quantitative techniques, including Game Theory and Econometrics. These transferable tools can then be applied to approach various questions of local, national, or global significance.
Economics is a dynamic and fertile discipline that has borrowed significantly from psychology, sociology, law, political science, history, mathematics, and philosophy, allowing students to appreciate a genuinely interdisciplinary major. An Economics major, thus, enables a student to conceptualize, analyse and gain valuable insights into significant contemporary questions critically, making the world a better place.
Societies tell stories about themselves. These stories take varied shapes in sustaining a range of social structures and institutions. Sociology and anthropology are disciplinary methods which offer ways with which to uncover these stories and their working in a society. These methods could be applied to ‘traditional’ topics such as family, kinship, religion to those of markets, political institutions, bureaucracies, military, corporations, NGOs and so on. They are crucially geared towards difference in the making of the modern world – why do people from different societies have different reactions to the same things (e.g. McDonald’s burgers)?
Concepts like time, space, structure, agency, representation are analyzed in these disciplines with a view to how different societies use these concepts differently. Anthropology and sociology are both theoretical as well as empirical disciplines, and they provide us with a knowledge of the many social patterns and alternatives that exist in the world, and a variety of theoretical lenses which can be used to study how people actually live in different social and cultural settings. They also help us develop an understanding of how societies have developed historically along with an awareness of contemporary social issues. They have an applied side to them too, where sociological and anthropological concepts can be used to address wider issues and problems in societies and to develop relevant responses and policies.
As a student taking the Sociology and Anthropology Major, you will build on concepts and paradigms introduced in your foundation courses like Sociology and the Interdisciplinary Seminars to develop an in-depth understanding of society, its institutions, structures, and a range of current issues that arise from social life.
Ranging from climate change to ecosystem health to population growth and social responsibilities, the world needs people who are knowledgeable of the social, economic, geopolitical, and environmental considerations of these issues, and who can develop sustainable solutions to such problems. An Environment and Sustainability major from a liberal arts background is more advantageous because the interdisciplinary knowledge helps students to understand a problem from multiple perspectives which enables them to bring critical thinking and problem-solving skills to understand a particular situation. An E&SD major from a liberal arts perspective can combine this with psychology, international business, political science and international relations, economics, sociology and anthropology, visual arts to name a few.
The E&SD major will help students develop concrete skills and analytical abilities, and gain hands on experience relevant to careers in government agencies, non-governmental organizations, private industry, and academic fields. In the 21st century there is a need to effectively communicate environmental messages and take stewardship of setting up green start-ups, to be advocates of carbon credits, finding sustainable fuel resources, fight climate change, and more importantly work towards ensuring our existence on the planet. An E&SD major An EVS major will prepare you for all of this.
The Literary Studies major at JSLH undertakes the cultural exploration and scholarly study of varied kinds of texts, literary and often otherwise, including, but not limited to those written in English. In our efforts to do so, we often cross the boundaries of time, language and genre, keeping in mind the complex routes of cross-cultural exchanges and fertilization that lie at the basis of all literary and artistic endeavours. To that end, the major aims to impart the important skills of critical reading and thinking, analysis, synthesis and creativity, critique, and reflective writing on, and sometimes of, literature — as form, text, edition and publication, hyper-text or another category. Keeping in mind an interdisciplinary focus, the students in Literary Studies major are also often encouraged to explore literature vis-à-vis the other arts and media, interrogating in the process conjunction of literary and cultural texts with socio-economic history, political movements, ideologies and other intellectual developments. In other words, along with the more “traditional” and “canonical” literary texts, students in the program are also trained to read and analyse “non-literary” and/or “non-traditional” forms such as film and new media, through the lens of different schools of literary criticism and theory.
The Political Science and International Relations major will take a comprehensive view of the two disciplines in equal measure. An inter-disciplinary approach is used build on the starts we have made with the foundation course in political science and IR. We will critically examine, in greater depth, the concepts and theories on the evolution of the State; the development of notions of freedom, justice, sovereignty, individual and human rights, and citizenship; the complex mechanism of government formation and functioning including electoral processes; constitutional imperatives; division of power within branches of governments; the influence of various kinds of interest groups and political movements that underscore limitations of prevailing governments and effect either a contestation of the State or a change in its character.
While we maintain a good focus on the independent Indian state as our object of study in some courses, others will focus on political frameworks and their functioning in major geo-political players in the contemporary world. An attempt will be made to understand contemporary politics in relation to wider and larger cross-currents when it comes to inter-state interactions in the International Relations courses in order to strike a balance between theories of political science and international relations and the realities of the contemporary world. Although the larger focus is on studying the State, there will be many other ideas that emanate from it will also be investigated in both political science and international relations, viz. institutions, feminism, international settlements, diplomacy, governance, globalisation.
The Political Science and International Relations major will engage with and enhance student critical thinking capacity and command over national and global political issues. It will help equip students with a toolbox to work with the nuts and bolts of politics. It will do all this while examining social and political reality with a diversity of theoretical lenses and hopefully empower the student to undertake complex intellectual tasks in the future.
In the past in India and elsewhere in the world political science and international relations majors have become bureaucrats, politicians, writers, journalists, publishing industry professionals, corporate communications executives. They have gone on to become civil servants, diplomats and foreign policy impresarios working in transnational organizations.
The major in visual arts is an interdisciplinary program that integrates studio practice with theoretical study of art history and art theory. The program offers a variety of courses ranging from drawing, painting, and sculpture to photography, video, sound, performance, and community art. The training in traditional and contemporary skills and the exposure to cutting-edge art, enable students to develop their distinctive approach to artmaking. The program pays special attention to visual culture's role in our society and develops the students’ ability to decipher and encode images. In addition to the curricular courses, the students participate in field trips to art galleries and museums and attend seminars and artist talks. During the program’s final year, students learn to conduct academic and artistic research.
The Philosophy major at JSLH is designed to provide students with the necessary foundation for a degree in the Liberal Arts and Humanities. The abilities to think for oneself, and form, defend and evaluate opinions are tools that young adults cannot afford to be without in today’s globalized world. The Philosophy major inculcates these abilities in our students by exposing them to exemplary debates in philosophical literature from multiple traditions and different eras. Familiarity with philosophical claims and classic arguments prepares you for academic work in a large number of disciplines and programs, of which a Masters in Philosophy is but one choice that you might make. A large number of eminent lawyers, cultural figures, critics and politicians—and of course, generations of brilliant philosophers—have opted for a philosophy major both because they loved ideas, and wanted to apply ideas to change the world in different ways. It is a hundred per cent true that doing a philosophy major is its own reward, but there exist any number of ways of integrating it into future work and study.
Embark on an exploration of the historians’ craft—through people, places, and paper trails— and the rich tapestry of the past with the History major at JSLH. Our foundation courses and electives span the chronicles of civilizations, the rise and fall of empires, and the narratives of ideas and individuals who shaped the course of history. We boast a diverse curriculum that spans continents and eras, where students are encouraged to critically engage with primary sources— be it archives, objects, oral histories, monuments, museum collections, fiction and poetry.
The History Major has three themes and students are encouraged to take courses spread across these three themes:
This major will prepare professionals who can plan, sustain and develop strategies to effectively address the contemporary challenges of marketing art and culture in a fast-changing global economy. It will deliver comprehensive knowledge of the social, economic and legal landscape of culture, the modes of governance, infrastructure, and ideas of identity & labor within cultural and creative industries. It is grounded in interdisciplinary methods of critical enquiry to explore the historical as well as emergent modes of production, distribution and audience engagement to prepare students to work in the complex globalized cultural sectors.
The major offers flexibility to students to focus on a particular cultural sector to develop a capstone project in which students are expected to synthesise and apply the core concepts acquired from the program. Possible areas of concentration include theatre and performance, visual arts, dance, music, tourism, heritage, design, gaming and food. Through simulations, guided experiences, field trips and case studies-based research, students will hone the skills required to work in multi-dimensional arts environments. Outcome-based workshops by scholars, art practitioners, programmers and industry experts will enable understanding best practices, allow students to conceptualize and strategically execute cultural events and plan marketing, promotion and fundraising campaigns. Students will gain practical experience relevant to working in their chosen creative sector by undertaking short term internships in arts organisations, festivals, galleries, cultural centres, production houses, theatre/ dance companies etc.
Graduates of this course will be well-placed to pursue careers in cultural management, curation and programming, project implementation, finance and data analysis, communication, promotion and fund-raising, policy consultants, strategic marketing, audience development, branding and media strategy in the cultural and creative sectors. They will be equipped to work for both-government and non-government institutions, art & cultural organizations working in regional/local, applied, community and international contexts. Students will be assisted in securing internships/project related assignments/ consultancy in .production houses, festivals, museums and galleries as consultants, art managers, curators and programmers, digital content creators etc.
Digital Humanities is a new field that brings together the arts, humanities, and technology. The DH major at JSLH will help students to become sensitive, critical, and reflective readers and users of digital tools and spaces by understanding their embeddedness in political, social, and economic contexts. Technologies such as digital mapping, quantitative textual analysis, spatial story-telling and social media analysis will equip students to understand and study the arts as well as humanities disciplines through digital computational tools. DH is interdisciplinary in its foundation, and the courses in this JSLH major are taught by faculty across the social science disciplines— environmental studies, economics, history, literary studies, sociology, and art.
The self-designed major is one of the most unique and often compelling option for students at JSLH. The major allows you to customize your course mix to more nuanced interests you may have in your studies and the role you want to play in the world after graduating. The self-designed major has been created to accommodate students who have a strong interest in a concentration that does not exist in the standard curriculum of JSLH. The concentration may be a unique interdisciplinary concentration or a recognized major that crosses several schools. It normally involves a combination of courses from two majors and occasionally more than two. Students will be required to write a statement of purposes as to how the self-designed major they are proposing is aligned with their future goals along with the list of courses that they propose to take. Students who are eligible and opt for the Research track in their 4th year will need to have a thesis topic that is aligned with their self-designed major and will hence work under the active supervision of two faculty, one each from the two majors. The breadth of the self-designed major must not compromise the depth and rigor of a given domain. A thorough understanding of the methodology, theoretical basis and application of each discipline must be understood along with the synergies of the integrated fields. While not a wide-spread option in India, self-designed and interdisciplinary majors are increasingly common in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. All major liberal arts colleges in the United States offer this option to their students.
A self-designed major equips students to apply for competitive programs of higher studies. The analytical and critical thinking skills, as well as the unique combination of subjects opens up a wide range of career choices, depending on the emphasis.
A student opting for a double major can combine any of the two, of the thirteen, majors on offer within JSLH. A student opting for double majors must complete 12 advanced major courses of BOTH majors. In the credit structure this implies they need to use up all elective credits, plus take 3 additional electives.