In inter- and transdisciplinary studies, the significance of fostering dialogue between different fields is underscored. Researchers and teachers are encouraged to apply the analytical skills inherent to their own disciplines as well as to adopt concepts and methodologies from other fields. This approach involves an appreciation for the intricacy of issues, cultivating values such as openness, empathy, and tolerance, and the ability to formulate innovative frameworks beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries.

The reconceptualisation of education as a dialogue between content and process within an inter- and transdisciplinary framework entails incorporating knowledge, principles, and methods from various disciplines, along with the capability for intricate problem analysis. These theoretical foundations are pivotal for comprehending the pedagogical strategies implemented in the University of Geneva’s interdisciplinary master’s program in Children’s Rights, where inter- and transdisciplinarity are integrated into the curriculum as an object of study. This integration is particularly evident in two foundational courses: 1) The Inter- and Transdisciplinary Approach: Theories and Practices; and 2) Methodology and Ethics of Research in Children’s Rights Studies. Since 2015, these courses have significantly shaped an educational framework that nurtures students’ deeper inter- and transdisciplinary understanding, aligning with the evolving demands of complex societal issues such as children’s rights.

These courses’ pedagogical devices and teaching methods are crafted to prompt students to approach children’s rights from an inter- and transdisciplinary standpoint. For example, the project-based evaluation method aligns with the emphasis on the dialogue between content and process. In this context, students apply theoretical concepts to research projects, testing their understanding and fostering collaboration skills. As highlighted by the literature, the intentional formation of diverse student groups aims to cultivate transdisciplinary values of openness and empathy. These research projects encompass an interdisciplinary theme, a defined problem, and a planned methodology. Though structured like authentic research projects, they serve as academic exercises rather than empirical studies, encouraging the creative application of theoretical knowledge within an interdisciplinary framework.

To exemplify the practical application of these courses, this contribution will delve into various student outputs, such as collective project works and individual reflective assignments. These outputs offer insights into how students initially perceive and gradually integrate inter- and transdisciplinarity into their learning. Student evaluations of these courses provide additional perspectives on the reception of these methods. The primary focus of this contribution centres on pedagogical devices and their outputs while also contributing to the broader discourse on enhancing inter- and transdisciplinary education at the university level. It demonstrates how theoretical concepts can be translated into practical teaching and learning experiences.

In response to the urgent need for innovative approaches to address complex global challenges, the Master’s programme of Global Challenges for Sustainability offers a pioneering model for inter- and transdisciplinary education. This joint degree Master’s programme is run by the European University Alliance CHARM-EU and taught simultaneously at 5 universities in Europe by means of hybrid classrooms with physical student mobility across the programme’s 3 phases. This presentation explores the pedagogical and didactic elements embedded within the CHARM-EU Master’s curriculum, highlighting key strategies for fostering individual, social, and societal learning processes essential for developing inter- and transdisciplinarity competencies. It reflects on the key elements and lessons learned in the 3 phases of the Master’s programme, that are each represented by one co-author.

The CHARM-EU Master’s programme is designed to strengthen students' inter- and transdisciplinary "muscles" by cultivating integrative research methodologies and promoting collaborative learning environments. Through a three-phase programme encompassing preparatory skill development, thematic exploration, and real-world application with stakeholders, it provides a spiral curriculum structure where students get to develop and improve their transdisciplinary practices as they engage in challenges in greater depth in each phase. This provides students with engaging and transformative learning experiences that prepare them to navigate complex sustainability challenges.

Central to the CHARM-EU Master’s approach are pedagogical strategies that encourage collective thinking and action, leading to mutual learning and transformation. Emphasising fluid identities, both students and teachers/supervisors assume roles as integration experts, fostering peer-to-peer training and collaborative knowledge exchange. Educational tools and digital platforms are leveraged to facilitate interdisciplinary and transnational collaboration and equip students with the vocabularies and toolkits necessary for effective transdisciplinary work.

The CHARM-EU Master’s programme serves as a living laboratory for the research of inter- and transdisciplinary education, offering valuable insights into design principles and best practices. It was designed by Knowledge Creating Teams of various (inter)disciplinary experts and educationalists across the 5 universities. By utilising research-based education and practice-informed educational research, the programme continually shares educational approaches across the alliance. Through rigorous evaluation and reflection, CHARM-EU Master’s contributes to the growing body of knowledge on the science of team-science as applied to educational contexts.

The CHARM-EU Master’s programme exemplifies a forward-thinking approach to inter- and transdisciplinary education, providing a blueprint for values-driven educational research, implementation, and evaluation. By exercising transdisciplinary muscles and fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, CHARM-EU Master’s prepares both students and teachers to become catalysts for societal transformation in an increasingly complex world.

Dimensions of Societal Issues, an interdisciplinary course

Introduction:

The health domain is increasingly confronted with complex challenges such as the (medical) consequences of climate change, pandemics, an aging population, and rising healthcare costs. They are so-called ‘wicked problems’. Problems which are very difficult to solve and, in any case, require interdisciplinary perspectives to solve them. The stakeholders of a wicked problem have different views to understand the problem and to find a solution. It means that future health professionals should be trained to work in this stakeholder environment.

We have developed an interdisciplinary course called: Dimensions on Societal Issues. In this course, we train students from the medical field, law, pharmacy, and humanities to think not only from their own disciplinary perspective but also from other perspectives to come to an integrative approach to complex societal issues.

In the course, students explore a set of complex societal challenges, for example how to address the consequences and problems caused by pollution of powerful companies.

Learning objectives of the course are:

1) Students learn to approach complex problems systematically and critically to identify the underlying causes of the issues.

2) In analyzing complex societal issues the students take on multiple disciplinary perspectives, such as medicine, law, and philosophy.

3) Students learn to communicate effectively and collaborate with colleagues from different fields.

4) Students reflect on their role and responsibility as a citizen and as a future professional in society.

To achieve the learning objectives, students approach the challenge from various perspectives. They learn that what from one perspective may be a solution, can, from another perspective, be a problem in itself. This contributes to making the problem complex or ‘wicked’. Students learn to analyse the dynamics inherent in complex problems, including the motivation behind the solution/problem, the impact on the different stakeholders and the difficulties in and prospects for coming to a shared solution.

In the presentation we take the audience along our educational design and use their feedback to improve our course.

Over 80 higher education professionals, including rectores magnifici, have signed their name in agreement with a call for a ‘Sigma’ future of higher education in a ScienceGuide article written by Wild and Uijl (2023). These higher education professionals call for more attention for inter- and transdisciplinary education at higher educational institutions in the Netherlands. The critically acclaimed article demonstrates that there is a felt need and urgency to transform disciplinary higher education into (also facilitating) interdisciplinary higher education. However, such needed changes bring challenges for governance structures of universities that are often built on disciplinary traditions. In this research, we have mapped what is felt by interviewing Dutch university employees, including several signees, who are at the forefront of changing educational governance for the benefit of developing and sustaining interdisciplinary education. In these interviews, we ask such ‘frontrunners’ not only about their experiences with the current governance of interdisciplinary education at their university, but also how they would ideally see such governance. We have done a critical discourse analysis of these interviews to map underlying relations of power present in their expressions about governance. To do this, we have used the concept of pedagogical governance, drawing on work by Bernstein (2000), Foucault (1995), and Negri (2000), understanding it as a form of nurturing and disciplining power to develop, sustain and change ways to recognise, value and structure learning. Our results provide insight into:

- different governance structures for interdisciplinary education at Dutch universities

- barriers and opportunities those structures provide for governing interdisciplinary education

- future scenarios for the governance of interdisciplinary education

Though it was neither the aim nor possible to be complete in mapping governance structures at Dutch universities, we have seen how governance structures differ across and within universities and the opportunities and barriers for interdisciplinary education that arise from those differences. Additionally, we have sketched several existing and future concepts for governing interdisciplinary education, which will aid policy makers in making informed decisions about governing interdisciplinary education. We add to existing work on governance concepts (see e.g. Cai & Lönnqvist, 2022; Lindvig, 2022) our pedagogical perspective, which shows how important it is for policy makers and educators to realise how governance choices for interdisciplinary education come with normative ideas about what learning is valued and recognised, and what learning is not.

References

Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, Symbolic Control, and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. Rowman & Littlefield.

Cai, Y., & Lönnqvist, A. (2022). Overcoming the Barriers to Establishing Interdisciplinary Degree Programmes: The Perspective of Managing Organisational Innovation. Higher Education Policy, 35(4), 946–968. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-021-00242-0

Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). Vintage Books.

Lindvig, K. (2022). Loud and soft voices of interdisciplinarity in higher education. In Configurations of Interdisciplinarity Within Education. Routledge.

Negri, A. (2000). The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza’s Metaphysics and Politics. U of Minnesota Press.

Wild, U., & Uijl, S. (2023). Niet alfa, bèta of gamma: Onderwijs van de toekomst is sigma. ScienceGuide. https://www.scienceguide.nl/2023/06/niet-alfa-beta-of-gamma-onderwijs-van-de-toekomst-is-sigma/