Pull and push in educational innovation: Study of an interfaculty programme

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Abstract
As specialists become more specialised, increasing demands are made for curricula in the universities which relate scientific evidence to the demands of decision-making. A multidisciplinary or holistic course in human sciences has therefore been introduced in the Australian National University, and has been the subject of detailed research. The students study problems each of which can be solved only by applying principles and methods of many disciplines: the moral and aesthetic implications of such problems are discussed, as well as the relevant concepts from the natural and social sciences. Hence the programme is not, as are some multidisciplinary courses, merely a collection of specialist units from different departments. Great difficulties were experienced in arranging that both the science and the arts faculties accepted the programme: before it became permanent, a stringent review was made of its academic level. The students who take the course are from the full range of academic abilities, but differ from the rest of the student population in their attitudes toward current issues and the ‘two cultures˚s. During their study of the programme they improve in independent judgment, and decline in dogmatism, more than members of ‘control˚s groups. They also enjoy human sciences more than controls enjoy their courses. The authors conclude that it is both possible and desirable to introduce genuinely integrated, multidisciplinary courses into the curricula of a conventional university. Such courses could eventually become the modern equivalent of Literae Humaniores—a general education for citizenship.

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