University students are the future of their respective countries. The courses they take in their major have a non trivial role or impact to play in their growth. The universities usually keep the courses of the degree, related to the major the student is pursuing. The author insists that the universities mandate that each student should take courses outside of the student's field of study. I strongly agree with the author mainly due to 2 reasons.
Firstly choosing a course subject different from the major broadens the knowledge base of the student. In practical world it is always advantageous to know things disparate from your field. It helps in the overall growth of the person. For example a engineering major student taking economics classes. Studying economics helps the student in his day to day life. Take the case of a mechanical student studying courses of electrical engineering. The person can pickup simple trivial tasks like changing the switch board in house and other trivial things. Picking up such tasks not only saves money for calling an electrician for such trivial matters but also saves time of that person.
Secondly there is always a chance to change the field of study or the field of job if the person has knowledge about many fields. For example during engineering most of the universities teach basic courses related to computer science so that if the student gets interest in computer science he/she always has the option of changing his field of study. Most of the students of any engineering branch learn concepts of computer science as it is hottest field in the market currently, and change their field of job and earn lucrative packages.
Thus, universities should mandate every student to take subjects outside of the student's field of study as it provides many benefits in the future for the students. The universities can have different ways and techniques to implement that such that the student's major courses are not disturbed and the student also get knowledge about other fields.