'Please don't use interdisciplinarity as a scare tactic in the austerity debate'

Interdisciplinarity and broad undergraduate courses are sometimes used as counter-arguments in the debate about austerity measures in higher education. Scepticism about interdisciplinarity also emerged in the Faculty Council of Humanities, according to a report published by DUB on December 5.

Proponents of interdisciplinary education and colleagues working for broad Bachelor's programmes shared their concerns about both university-wide and faculty-specific austerity measures. However, using interdisciplinarity and broad education as scare tactics, linking them to an image of impoverishment, creates a false contradiction that does not help us to find a place for the measures and shape a new educational model while relieving workloads.

In this op-ed, we'd like to point out that the broad programmes of the Faculty of Humanities - namely, Language & Culture Studies (TCS) and Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) - attract a different type of student compared to the faculty's disciplinary programmes. This will remain so even when the latter programmes eventually become more intertwined in terms of content and student population than is already the case. Moreover, students with solid disciplinary training are still necessary to organise exchanges in interdisciplinary education and guarantee interdisciplinary learning objectives.

If the cross-linking of programmes is going to happen at the faculty, it is all the more important that the disciplinarity of these programmes is maintained, complemented by a perspective from outside one's discipline or specialisation. It is also important to properly define and set up interdisciplinarity, something the UU-wide Interdisciplinary Education programme is working on alongside a growing group of colleagues from all faculties.

The moment of choice 
Broad undergraduate programmes allow students to choose a specialisation at some point in their first year, and they are guided in making the right choice. Both TCS and LAS start broadly, introducing students to perspectives from different disciplines. LAS also includes disciplines outside the Humanities.

At TCS, students learn about multiple disciplines in the Humanities by choosing a language and delving into multiple perspectives on a chosen topic. Students orient themselves towards a specialisation throughout the first year and, in the second and third years, they deepen their understanding of this specialisation while also learning to work interdisciplinarity, reflecting on the Humanities and their personal development.

A more disciplinary programme also contains electives, but the choice of a field of science - literary studies or linguistics, history or philosophy - is made before students even join the programme. Once enrolled in the programme, students can specialise further, something that happens at TCS and LAS in a major.

The cross-linking of disciplines within the Faculty of Humanities would not have to change the specialisation routes inside more disciplinary programmes and broad bachelors. However, it could lead to more reflection among students on what makes this discipline "their own" and how the discipline relates to other disciplinary approaches inside and outside the faculty.

Ultimately, it is about how a student wants to study. This is what makes a broad undergraduate programme different from a more specialised one. A TCS student and a History student may be at the same point at the end of their studies, employing the same research skills for a history thesis. Their backpacks are just packed with knowledge brought together differently.

The TCS student chose a specialisation in History from a broader starting point than a History student. As part of their major, the former has also been introduced to Media and Culture or taken a preparatory course in Religious Studies. The latter has acquired an overview of all periods and been introduced to a range of approaches within the boundaries of History.

Thus, the TCS student encounters a wider set of students, which is relevant for practising collaborative and other social skills, while the History student works together with the same group more often. For the latter student, interdisciplinary elective courses and community-engaged learning are available to achieve the same goal. They may bump into TCS students in those courses too.

Designing education according to disciplined interdisciplinarity 
UU's vision, as developed and promulgated in the university-wide Interdisciplinary Education (IDO) programme, is that of disciplined interdisciplinarity. Disciplined interdisciplinarity means that interdisciplinarity requires the disciplines and associated specialisations to enable broad, deep, connecting and reflective study.

If, after taking courses in the humanities, STEM sciences and biological sciences (the broad approach), a LAS student concludes that Economics and Business Economics are what suits them, then that discipline will be employed in interdisciplinary group work (which will ensure connections) and for reflecting on science. The same applies to Economics and Business Economics students. If they seize the opportunity to use the profiling space to broaden their perspectives and also take interdisciplinary elective courses, this will facilitate the connection of insights and reflection on types of science. When differentiating LAS students from Economics students, it is important to have a thematic and didactic vision of interdisciplinarity within the entire LAS programme, with a corresponding organisational set-up.

Irrespective of the austerity task that is inflaming the discussion on interdisciplinarity and broad Bachelor's in the Faculty of Humanities, there are several trade-offs to be made to include interdisciplinarity in a disciplinary programme or within an interdisciplinary course or learning line, depending on the objective.

The choices you can make depend on the desired level of interdisciplinarity. The design tool for interdisciplinary education that has recently become available is a good tool to use in the development phase.

It also indicates that not all types of education require all levels of interdisciplinarity. A cross-linked course by topic may aim at an introduction to multiple disciplinary perspectives but also at a creative integration of disciplinary knowledge and content. Different choices can be made depending on the place in the curriculum.

The basis of students' choices
As advocates of interdisciplinary education and colleagues who shape broad bachelors, we attach great importance to disciplinarity and specialisation, considering this is precisely what provides a basis for the choices students make and the knowledge they can delve into. In this way, it helps shape interdisciplinarity according to the principle of disciplined interdisciplinarity.

We are therefore pleased to be able to cooperate with our colleagues from specialised Bachelor's programmes, even when it comes to something as complex as the budget cuts, the current transition in the Faculty of Humanities and the updated educational model for the entire university. We need each other: broad Bachelor's programmes exist by the grace of disciplinary courses and together we can shape disciplined interdisciplinarity.

Want to know more about this? Check out the webpage of the Interdisciplinary Education Programme web page, our design tools and suggestions for learning activities, or contact us.