You have an idea – start here
When you have an idea, it can be good to talk with someone who has experience of cooperation on interdisciplinary education early in the process. You can also contact your closest senior faculty administrator (utbildningsledare) for tips on other people in your own or other disciplinary domains who have taken initiatives in interdisciplinary education. We also recommend the report report Tvärvetenskaplig utbildning vid Uppsala universitet – lärdomar från satsningen på tvärvetenskapliga kurser 2018–2019 (in Swedish).
For an interdisciplinary initiative to achieve lasting success, it is generally necessary to have obtained the support of the heads of department and directors of studies for the idea, so that the course/programme can become part of the departments’ joint priorities from the outset. Programmes in particular require a long-term commitment from the entire department so that the educational project does not come to a standstill if one enthusiast leaves the organisation.
It is therefore important to involve directors of studies and heads of department relatively early in the process. A good first step is to formulate a course/programme idea outlining the contents of the course/programme and clarifying the value of the interdisciplinary component – for students, the department and the faculty, as well as for the University as a whole. Further, give some thought to the question of how the collaboration can best be administered.
In addition, clarify the intended target group for the course/programme, and the potential utility to these students of taking an interdisciplinary course rather than separate courses/modules in the different subjects. It may be valuable to canvass views on this from the intended student groups or student representatives.
Contact the relevant senior faculty administrator for help and guidance on timetables and other administrative issues that come up.
Creating lasting interdisciplinary collaborations
Educational initiatives that fall slightly outside the department’s mainstream risk ebbing away after a while. A supportive structure is therefore required to ensure sustainability and stability in connection with interdisciplinary education. This is particularly important for programmes, but courses also benefit from stability over time.
Sustainability requires both continuity in the teaching team for the course/programme and that all the lecturers involved feel a degree of ownership. For these reasons, it is a good thing for the course to be staffed at least partly by permanently employed lecturers.
Previous experience of interdisciplinary educational collaborations has shown than another key to success is to secure broad support for the course/programme in all participating departments – including among lecturers who do not initially participate in the teaching. This is a way of ensuring that more lecturers are familiar with the course/programme and can be involved when it is offered again in the future. One piece of advice here is to produce a teaching manual summarising the basic thinking behind the course/programme and giving reasons and explanations for the educational approach used. A manual of this kind can both facilitate the handover process to new lecturers and serve as a basis for ongoing development.
In complex collaborations, e.g. interdisciplinary programmes or courses involving cooperation between many departments, it may be necessary to produce a model illustrating the planned setup and organisation of the coordination and cooperation. Joint funding may need to be set aside to finance a coordinator for the course/programme. Another potential setup for programmes is to have a programme manager and deputy programme manager from different departments so as to spread both control over and responsibility for the programme.
Research superstructure
All education requires a good research superstructure, that is, lively research in the fields of knowledge covered by the education at the department or departments conducting the education. This is necessary to ensure both that the teaching staff are properly qualified and that there is a close connection between education and research. For interdisciplinary courses and programmes, this research superstructure may involve several departments and/or lie at the interface between subject areas. A joint structure may be necessary to facilitate collaborations and coordination of both education and research. Here too, funding may need to be set aside for a coordinator, for example.
When establishing interdisciplinary programmes, it is particularly important to ensure that all the departments involved are prepared to make a long-term commitment to recruitment in relevant fields, even if the area should lie outside the department’s core subject area. See also the section on how to base the education on research.