Administering interdisciplinary programmes can be challenging. Many choose to avoid cross-disciplinary collaboration, even when there are strong academic reasons to work together. The challenges are particularly related to the complex structural system that organises education, and to how resources are managed between units. INTED has mapped where interdisciplinary programmes encounter administrative challenges, and how these challenges can be addressed.
Interdisciplinary education
Interdisciplinary education can be an educational offering, for example a programme or a course, where several units are formally connected. It starts from an academic need to address issues from multiple perspectives. When these perspectives are anchored in different units, the units must find solutions for how to distribute formal responsibilities and tasks between them.
Develop learning outcomes in collaboration:
Interdisciplinary educational offerings start from an academic need to view multiple disciplines in relation to each other. The academic staff responsible develop a course description and learning outcomes that form the basis for the offering.
The learning outcomes guide both the design of the course and programme content, and the kinds of administrative arrangements that are required.
A well?designed course provides a predictable process for all parties and forms the basis for a collaboration agreement between the units involved.
Here you can read more about how to develop interdisciplinary learning outcomes.
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Create a collaboration agreement
Once the learning outcomes and course design are in place, it is important to establish a collaboration agreement that describes the interdisciplinary meeting points of the educational offering from start to finish. The collaboration agreement can also help clarify potential future administrative challenges.
UiO has developed a draft collaboration agreement.
Relevant challenges that can be included in a collaboration agreement:
Points:
- Host unit for the educational offering
- Learning outcomes / learning objectives, interdisciplinary purpose, and forms of assessment
- EPN collaboration
- Teaching methods and teaching assistants
- Collaboration in shared systems (FS, Canvas, timetable planning)
- Recruitment and reception of students, and subsequent responsibility for the student throughout the study programme
- Delivery of teaching and collaboration on teaching resources
- Implementation of exams, resits, and grading
- Compensation related to shared teaching resources
- Distribution of income in the collaboration
Here is a diagram that can support you in identifying relevant aspects of the educational offering.
Establish a meeting structure for everyone involved
When several units and administrative staff collaborate on an interdisciplinary educational offering, regular meeting arenas are essential for aligning routines, division of responsibilities, and practices towards students and other stakeholders.
INTED offers workspace for collaboration teams from different units working with interdisciplinary educational offerings. Teams can reserve a regular slot — for example, one day a week — or come one day a month to align plans, routines, and practices. This provides a shared space for coordinating teaching, administration, and student support.
If you would like to reserve a fixed day or apply for single days, please contact INTED.