Authors:

Nisha R Chavda

Abstract:

The National Education Policy 2020 has created a significant moment for rethinking English Studies in Indian higher education. English departments in India have historically carried multiple responsibilities: teaching literature, developing language competence, shaping cultural understanding, and preparing students for academic and professional life. Yet, in many universities and colleges, English Studies has remained limited to conventional literary syllabi, examination-oriented pedagogy, and insufficient connection with contemporary social, cultural and professional needs. NEP 2020 invites higher education to move towards flexibility, multidisciplinarity, Indian rootedness, skill development, learner choice and social responsibility. In this changed context, English Studies cannot remain confined only to poetry, drama, fiction and criticism in the older sense. It must retain its literary depth while opening itself to translation, Indian languages, communication skills, cultural studies, digital literacy, employability, ethics, community engagement and Indian Knowledge Systems. The article examines how NEP 2020 and related UGC frameworks offer new directions for English Studies in India. It suggests that the discipline can become a meaningful bridge between literary imagination and social reality, between language and livelihood, between Indian cultural plurality and global academic discourse. Such a transformation does not reduce English to a market skill; rather, it restores English Studies to a larger educational purpose where language, literature, culture, values and employability can be brought into a productive relationship.

Keywords:

NEP 2020, English Studies, higher education, multidisciplinarity, Indian languages, skill development, employability, curriculum reform, Indian Knowledge Systems

Vol & Issue:

VOL.18, ISSUE No.1, March 2026