University of Edinburgh
Recognition of the growing need for interdisciplinary collaboration has accelerated such that the issue of interdisciplinary provision is a topical one for higher education institutions preparing students for a changing world. Just recently for example the Eighth Global Summit on Graduate Education issued a statement on ‘Principles for supporting interdisciplinarity in (Post)graduate Education and Research’.
This study will use a mixed methods approach to investigate interdisciplinary educational provision in UK higher education.
Outputs will include a report of c.30 000 words which will present:
- a review of the literature about the effectiveness of interdisciplinary provision and the pedagogies which provide distinctive opportunities for interdisciplinarity;
- the results of a survey indicating the scale of interdisciplinary provision and a typology of different approaches to interdisciplinarity;
- case studies of effective approaches to promoting evaluating and sustaining interdisciplinarity.
The report will propose principles contributing towards the development of an interdisciplinary framework for undergraduate education. In addition at least one peer reviewed article will be published in an appropriate journal and an accessible short briefing note on the project findings will be made available e.g. via the wiki site www.tinyurl.com/idwiki.