Interdisciplinarity by design

Seven new universities (1960-1961)

SussexYorkEast AngliaEssexLancasterKentWarwick

‘The planned children of government policy’ Beloff 1968: 26

Robbins report

Expansion but also re-thinking the idea of a university

The interdisciplinary university

“a society of individuals living and working together for the advancement of learning and the dissemination of knowledge” York: 12

“a meeting place of different aptitudes, skills and specialisations” York: 12

“Excessive concentration of specialists within a social group would ….work against the mixing of different interests and skills which is one of the chief purposes of university education” York: 10

The new map of learning.. Involves the re-drawing of boundaries between old subjects

Interdependence of disciplines

Structure and organisation

Schools

Colleges

Departments

Major and minor subjects

Plotting courses

Orchestrating serendipity

‘The university must be a meeting place… each specialisation must be enriched by the greatest possible contact with others’ York: 13

A science department and housing linked by chains of non-science departments around one of the central buildings

Designing interdisciplinary exchange

Heslington East

Heslington East and Complex X: May 2005

A pioneering new research and teaching centre that will be the academic flagship of the University of York's proposed campus extension has secured £12 million in financial support.

The new £38 million centre – codenamed Complex X – will pioneer closer collaboration between arts and sciences, reflecting the realignment of fields of study in an increasingly technological age.

Complex X will house York's new Department of Theatre, Film and Television...The new department will collaborate closely with the Department of Electronics, which already runs courses in media technology.

The Creative Technologies Hub will support innovative experimental work where technology is applied to arts areas and will involve Yorkshire's creative industries.

The inter-disciplinary research centre for Complex Systems Analysis will develop an area of study designated as crucial for Britain's future in the government's Science White Paper.