tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668076127863990358.post2854300643179653688..comments2023-10-31T09:48:25.993+00:00Comments on dot.rural Digital Economy Research Blog: Alicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682948471252240418noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5668076127863990358.post-24570603469068134052010-08-18T09:46:10.424+01:002010-08-18T09:46:10.424+01:00From Mark Reed:
I agree, though I think things ar...From Mark Reed:<br /><br />I agree, though I think things are already changing to an extent. When I did my Undergraduate degree at Aberdeen (BSc Tropical Environmental Science, 1997), the only really interdisciplinary element was a fourth year exam where you got questions that required you to draw from and integrate material you'd learned from across the four years of the degree. It was a fun paper, but that was about it. <br /><br />Now, Aberdeen Uni are introducing a bunch of "6th Century" courses that attempt to draw expertise from across the University to create interdisciplinary courses. I've been involved with one on international development, which has been interesting so far, but it has yet to run. So I have yet to see how it actually works, and what students think of it. But at least people are trying more now.<br /><br />I think that the way the University is structured may also change in future under the direction of Ian Diamond. In the recent consultation he put out re: the University's Strategic Review, he asked people to suggest themes around which future activity could be organised. There's a good chance that many of these themes are likely to be interdisciplinary in nature. Of course, it has yet to be seen whether or not this will get off the ground and if it does, how influential it will be in the way that people actually work together. But I hope that there is an increasingly bright future for interdisciplinary research and teaching at Aberdeen. I think this is part of a wider trend across the Research Councils (with their cross-cutting themes) and the HE sector - Imperial (I think) recently re-organised its work around a bunch of Grand Challenges. Apparently this hasn't worked though - I've searched online but can't find any information about whether or not this is true, and if so what lessons we might be able to learn.Mark Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09171061405099183847noreply@blogger.com