A university without departments and colleges -A new structure to strengthen disciplinary and interdisciplinary education and research

Abstract

A 21st century workforce must be trained to solve not only major national and global challenges but to fit into the current complex work environment. The challenges cannot be solved by a single discipline and require interdisciplinary solutions only possible through the collaboration of physical, biological, and social scientists along with engineers. The 21st century student needs to be educated so they can combine disciplinary depth with the ability to reach out to other disciplines. Such training requires a cost-effective higher education structure that promotes and sustains interdisciplinary research and education (IDRE). The current structure has failed to achieve this. In response to this failure, some private universities like Dartmouth and Olin and public institutions like the University of California Merced (UC Merced) are experimenting with giving up traditional department silos and majors in favor of an interdisciplinary organization. These programs can serve as models for what is to be done in U.S. higher education and may also serve as models for emerging universities in the developing world.

Operationalization of the concepts of interdisciplinarity: An implication elicitation exercises based on the framework synthesis methodology

“…The operational strategies proposed at this level are supported by the studies of Schnieder and Wegener (2010), Noy, and Little who have emphasized providing a comprehensive and compatible ontology, management of scientific terms, and attainment of a common ontology in interdisciplinarity activities. [ 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 ]…”

“…The subjects of universities without departments, college networking, and interorganizational networking are pointed out in the studies of Bililign et al , Palmer et al , and Haythornthwaite et al , and they conform to the present study. [ 38 40 41 ]…”

“…[ 14 22 ] The practical strategies of Table 8 should be kept in mind when intending to undergo activities among the organizations, networks, and scientific teams. [ 38 40 41 42 43 44 ]…”