Prof. Sanjay K. Jha, a widely acclaimed linguist, is the Director of the Amity School of Liberal Arts at Amity University Gurgaon. Having PhD in Linguistics, Prof. Jha holds five MA degrees in Journalism, Education, Media Management, Human Rights, and Linguistics. Prof. Jha is the product of University of Mumbai, Deccan College, Pune, and University of California, SB, USA for his core specialization in Applied Linguistics. He started his professional career as Research Scientist from IIT Bombay and taught in several African Universities like Garyounis University, Libya, Haramaya University, Ethiopia, etc. Publishing more than 150 research papers, 9 books, and 12 book chapters, Prof. Jha is recipient of several prestigious awards including Guru International Pride Award, Iconic Leadership in Higher Education Award, Director of the Year Award. Currently, he is running two Govt. funded projects on culture and values.

Amity University, Gurgaon

Being Head of Department, how you ensure student has holistic exposure not just academics?

Meeting the aspirations of NEP 2020, Amity University Haryana has implemented a holistic curriculum that ranges from core subjects to value-added subjects like communication skills, personality development, foreign languages, behavioural skills, soft skills, military training, yoga, and meditation. In addition, we at the department level offer various extra-curricular activities and community services round the clock to ensure our students grow in a holistic manner.

How do you try to bring in practical approach towards subjects and how students get practical experience from studying the subject?

We not only believe in learning-by-doing but also provide experiential learning to our students by sending them to fields to extract preliminary data, conduct perception surveys, and give hands-on experience through internships and short-term projects in industries so that they could become more future-ready. Students get plenty of opportunities for practical learning in which they do things by themselves. All our faculty members try their best to impart practical learning to their students so that they can get more exposure to real-life situations, creative thinking, and problem-solving abilities.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students which help them gain necessary skills?

We have several best practices at Amity School of Liberal Arts that help the students gain the necessary skills. Our team is made up of highly qualified faculty with international exposure who have experience in the industry and academia. We offer 12 foreign languages that students complete with core subjects. Our world-class infrastructure includes an IT-enabled library, a smart classroom, and modern language labs. We also conduct a mandatory week-long military training for all students to help them be resilient. Our students complete research projects at both UG and PG level. Our students are placed for jobs and internships in prestigious organizations such as youth empowerment foundation, gyanjula technologies pvt. ltd., entrance zone, trialblazzers, spy coupon, creation cradle, laugh out loud ventures pvt. ltd., hackzhub, uas international, election commission, jmb, cog publication and many more.

How do you help your students in coping up with the competition being so high in the outside world?

Our school of Liberal Arts promotes cooperation in learning rather than competition in learning. We promote collaborative and participatory learning so that our students can become more humane, more caring for others, and socially more responsible. This helps them overcome worldly pressure and perform better.

Check Amity University, Gurgaon Courses & Fees

What do you see the department’s/ college’s greatest strengths and how it helps students to excel?

All our faculty members are stalwarts in their subjects with vast experience. In addition, we have a real research environment in which we not only orient our students to do creative action research but also help them in publish their research works in our three in-house journals as well as other peer-reviewed journals. In addition, we send our students to different foreign universities to earn up to 15 credits under Study Abroad Program.

What valuable advice would you like to give to the students to have a prosperous career ahead?

Liberal Arts courses provide a wide range of careers for undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is a misconception that a career in Liberal Arts or Humanities is confined to teaching only. It offers a wide range of career options and job opportunities. If English literature opens up the avenue of becoming writers, content writers, newsreaders, editors, anchors, etc., subjects like History and Political Science groom students for civil service examinations and orient them to become think tank for public policy, political strategists, political analysts, journalist, archaeologist, archivist, museum curators, heritage walks, tour guides, etc. Thus, there are a plethora of opportunities in all disciplines of Liberal Arts to make a promising career.