‘Undisciplining’ higher education without losing disciplines

Furthering transformative potential for students

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21555804
AutoresMayke W C Vereijken (0000-0001-9169-720X, Utrecht University, autor de correspondencia), Sanne Akkerman (0000-0003-0658-2454, Utrecht University), Susan F te Pas (0000-0003-0854-3379, Utrecht University), Iris Van Der Tuin (0000-0003-1890-940X, Utrecht University), Manon Kluijtmans (0000-0001-6601-7639, University Medical Center Utrecht)
Año2023
Volumen42
Número7
Páginas1762-1775
Fecha de publicación2023-10-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHigher Education Research & Development (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0729-4360 • E-ISSN: 1469-8366
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07294360.2022.2156482
OpenAlexW4311941026
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas16
Referencias citadas53

In universities worldwide, there has been a movement away from mono-disciplinary towards multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary education, motivated by the notion that complex societal issues call for more than a single disciplinary perspective. To prepare students for a role in addressing these issues, flexibility within educational programs is needed for students to move within, across and beyond disciplines. Contrary to the intended orientation on societal issues, multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary education appear in the current discourse regularly as aims in themselves, as if they were distinctive types of education that one should adopt at the level of a course or a program. We argue that education could more flexibly utilize and create free space: continuously questioning, also together with students, what sorts of perspectives and disciplinarities problems require. Therefore, we propose boundary crossing as an alternative way of thinking about multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary education. At many universities, organizing for flexibility already gains some traction. However, we believe that a shift of focus towards more open ways of transgressing disciplines in the field of higher education is vital for furthering the transformative potential of multi-, inter- and transdisciplinarity for students to being and becoming the professionals that society needs

Engineering ethics · Higher education · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Sociology · Transformative learning · Engineering · Higher Education and Employability · Higher Education Learning Practices · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Psychology