In recent times the theme of interdisciplinarity has gained popularity in policy practice teaching and research circles. Even as scepticism for the concept exists it has now gained moral overtones with arguments for why interdisciplinarity is both desirable and inevitable. Within policy circles in UK interdisciplinarity has been largely normatively accepted. Thus in both teaching and research the drive for interdisciplinarity is encouraged both through the Higher Education Academy and the Research Councils. This report provides an overview of the concept its teaching (rather than research) implications and its current policy relevance based purely on extensive literature review.
Three types of literature sources were researched. The first of these was printed material which included journals research monographs and edited collections. The second was the Internet focusing on websites of educational institutions organisations and groups promoting interdisciplinarity. The third source concentrated on policy documents and government publications. The report is divided into five sections. The first clarifies the nature of disciplinarity the second clarifies the nature of interdisciplinarity the third moves into the realm of practice the fourth focuses on interdisciplinary teaching and the fifth and final section reviews the higher education policy context in UK.
