In an academic semester, living in social isolation and under restrictions of the pandemic, we organized weekly multidisciplinary seminars from a postgraduate course program in Curitiba, Southern Brazil, integrating students from different regions of Brazil and South America. Outstanding researchers from Brazil, Germany, France, Argentina, Mexico,…

Despite its popularity in education studies literature, interdisciplinary science education is mostly considered outside the multitude of social forces that drive education reform. This has contributed to a mythologizing of interdisciplinary science education and lead to assumptions about the necessity of its intervention into science education…

Purpose: The authors describe the challenges and opportunities associated with developing an interdisciplinary sustainability programme in an emerging economy and illustrate how these are addressed through the approach taken for the development of the first postgraduate programme (MSc and PhD) in sustainability science at the National Autonomous…

Purpose: The paper aims to report on the experiences moderating an interdisciplinary graduate-level sustainability seminar. Initiated in Fall 2002, the seminar has explored diverse sustainability topics and reached approximately 150 faculty and students. The paper describes how the course shaped participants' perceptions of sustainability and…

"Internationalisation" has become the new buzzword for universities around the world, with jointly offered degrees as well as smaller-scale exchanges for students. Despite this rapid expansion of international campuses and programmes, and the increasing acceptance and encouragement of international experiences for [post]graduate students, little…

In response to the need to prepare students to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, new models of graduate education are being developed across the country. One model is provided by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program, which broadens graduate students' training beyond their…

To remain competitive in an increasingly interdisciplinary world, graduate education must produce professionals who can understand both their scientific disciplines and the business environment in which they work. With the addition of applied learning components outside of the traditional scientific laboratory and training in business skills,…

Graduate programs have placed an increasing emphasis on the importance of interdisciplinary education, but barriers to interdisciplinary training still remain. We present a new model for interdisciplinary, cross-institution graduate teaching that combines the best of local teaching, distance learning, and experiential learning to provide students…

Combining the interdisciplinary studies (primarily humanities) literature with the content analysis of 129 successful National Science Foundation proposals written predominantly by science and engineering faculty members, the authors identify five categories of learning outcomes for interdisciplinary graduate education: disciplinary grounding,…

Graduate education in the United States has been identified as being the backbone of American competitiveness and innovation in a recent report by the Council of Graduate Schools. The report provides a framework for examining the role of graduate education in partnership with business and government to advance an action agenda for achieving…

The Professional Science Master's (PSM) degree is a creative addition to US graduate education, expressly to support innovation and workforce development in a globally competitive economy. Initiated in the 1990s with funding from two US private foundations, there is still a question as to whether universities will sustain it beyond the start-up…

The Master's Degree Program in Cybernetic Systems was proposed a decade ago as an interdisciplinary problem-solving oriented educational effort. Implemented seven years ago, it has developed into a successful continuing education vehicle for mid-career professionals. Those proposing the program recognized that without guidelines to follow, it must…

Summarizes the difficulties likely to be experienced in Science-Technology-Society graduate education and research, and gives the reasons for optimism nevertheless. Concludes with an optimistic note about the future. (Author/NB)

Describes a series of graduate level courses that compare the doing and teaching of art and science. Presents a narrative of art/science activities in which students participate and discusses how connecting art and science enhances appreciation of both. Offers a second narrative illustrating the questions that arise from the art/science…

The establishment and development of a graduate program in bioengineering at the University of Michigan is discussed. Included are the student entrance requirements, types of future employment for program graduates, and the philosophy underlying the choice of coursework and instructional methods for the program. (MLH)