Facilitating Interdisciplinary Graduate Education: Barriers, Solutions, and Needed Innovations

Welch-Devine, Meredith, Alana Shaw, Julie Coffield, and Nik Heynen. (2018) “Facilitating interdisciplinary graduate education: Barriers, solutions, and needed innovations.” Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 50:(5): 53-59.

In Short:

•• Organizational hierarchies, policies, and budgetary models often disadvantage interdisciplinary programs and their students and faculty.

•• Examples exist across the country of improvements that can be made. However, in some areas— for example, accounting for and reporting interdisciplinary efforts— viable approaches are not yet clear and work remains to be done.

•• Improving interdisciplinary graduate education will require strong commitment from university leaders and a willingness to lay out clear, rational, and flexible policies and funding models.