THE IMPORTANCE OF
INTERDISCIPLINARY ASPECTS
OF
UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS:COLLABORATION BETWEENSTEM AND NON-STEM
DISCIPLINESWERA 2019 Conference, Tokyo

Reiko Yamada
Doshisha University

Background• The impact on knowledge economy in the globalized

world has become larger• 75 % of growing occupations requires technology and skills
in STEM fields (Chief Scientist, 2014, p.7).
• Expectation for innovation and demand is bigger•

Acceptance as well as citation rate becomes an importantindicator on the world ranking of universities. Thus, it is selfevident that government STEM-oriented policies are closely
related to the world ranking competition

The role of STEM becomes important2

United States
PCAST(The President’s Council ofAdvisors on Science and Technology)
2010, 2012
• Australia , Chief Scientist, 2014
• England, House of Lords, 2012
• Singapore STEP 2015 (A*STAR)•Science andTechnologyPolicies inthe Worldand theReports

Japan
The Strategy of developing Human
Resource in Science and Technology 2015,MEXT•

The 5th Science and Technology BasicPlan, 2015 Cabinet Office3

4• There is a concern that a too STEM-

oriented policy ignores theimportance of other disciplines suchas humanities and social sciences.
• At the same time, interdisciplinary

ProblemStatement

collaborations based on STEM andother disciplines are expected todevelop in many universities
worldwide. It is now considered thatstudents of STEM disciplines should
acquire both special knowledge
based on their disciplines and othercompetences such as communication
skills, intercultural knowledge andskills, and understanding of global
issues acquired through otherdisciplines in order to promote
5
innovation and new design• The curriculum in higher education has proven toPrevious
Studies of theImportance ofInterdisciplinary
Programs

be an essential yet relatively unchanging part ofthe dominant educational paradigm and people
are familiar with a disciplinary narrowness, a silolike separation of knowledge that has changed
little despite the rise of interdisciplinary studies inrecent years (Hawkins, 2007; Jacob, 2015)• Interdisciplinary studies are valued for thedevelopment of critical thinking, a broader
perspective from other fields of study and theability to translate ways of thought between
different fields (Yamada, 2018)• A method to assess the cognition and responsesof STEM students to the global society, andsuggested that such skills could be acquired
through interdisciplinary program(Chipperfiled etal. 2015)• In order to realize a sustainable society, not only
expertise in STEM, but also social, ethical andenvironmental awareness is essential, and these
are learned through interdisciplinary liberal arts
education(Murray and Horn, 2012)6• 21st-century STEM challenges need more than mere

TheDirection ofSTEM
Education
ReformGuided byAAC&U

knowledge acquisition; they also need the capacity
to apply disciplinary-specific knowledge to solving
the world’s most complicated problems in culturally
nuanced contexts and the ability to effectively
communicate the importance of these problems andsolutions. This is the challenge of STEM
undergraduate education in the 21st-century• As defined in the Liberal Education and America's

Promise (LEAP) initiative of the AAC&U, bigquestions directly connect to sustainability, how welive our lives, the choices we make, and ourobligations to other people and to the natural world.
• Undergraduate STEM courses will: 1) provide more

knowledge about real-world issues (e.g. energy,water, air quality, climate change); 2) connect these
real-world issues to the concepts of sustainability; 3)offer students opportunities to analyze andimplement choices that can help solve societal
problems so they are better able to act on theirchoices both immediately and as future citizens andprofessionals
7Self-reported evaluation on Learning
Outcomes of Japanese Students• 2010 JCSS survey

2.50• 3.0 is maximum

2.00• Acquired abilities

and skills afterentrance

1.50
1.00

• STEM students

struggle toacquire 21stcentury learning

0.50
0.00

p<.0001
Humanities

Social Sciences

STEM

Medicalaverage

8PRACTICES OF JAPANESE STEMPROGRAMS AND
INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS• The purpose :to foster leaders who can play global

roles across the spectrum of the industrial,academic and governmental sectors• Developing four kinds of talented people:

Programfor Leading
Graduate
School(1) those who will be leaders in fields other thanresearch, including industry, public organizations
and NPOs, both domestically and internationally(2) those who, having extensive international andinterdisciplinary perspectives, can from a wideoverview and take the lead in challenging andsolving societal issues(3) those who, having a solid background of provenresearch capability, can manage projects that drive
innovation(4) those who can proactively set goals and achieve
them by coordinating and uniting various
stakeholders both domestically and internationally
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Leading Graduate Schools

Internationalorganizations

Government

institutionsBusinesses

Research

institutes

Universit
ies

Industry, academia and government
participate from the programʼs planning
stage

Planning of industrial, academic andgovernmental sectors enables
research training in an international
and practical environment
A closely interconnected system ofguidance, assembling top-flight
faculty of various sectors from Japanand abroad

Assure quality of leaders (dissertation)
While cooperating with each other,
exceptional students can excel in
their own creative researchendeavors
Review of research plan
Choiceofﬁeldofstudy
Qualifying examination
Interdisciplinary study, lab rotation
Coursework
Entrance exam

A systematic program of education
built upon a foundation of knowledge
that transcends individual fields andthat comprehensively evaluates
student capacities

Source: JSPS: Program for Leading Graduate Schools p.5

11

62 programs
Supported by the fundsof MEXT for 7 years from2014

New integrated
arts & sciences
degree programs
Humanities/Social Sciences
Science/Engineering

Life Sciencesetc

All around category

Materials

Chemistry

Multidisciplinary
degree programs
Environment, life
science & health,etc.

Degreeprograms
make use ofunique
resources

Mechanicsetc

Composite category

Referred Source: JSPS: Program for Leading Graduate
Schools p.6 Author revised the figure

Only-one category
12Category / ThemeFY2011FY2012FY2013

Total

322

7Environment

426Life Science & Health426

1. All-around Category
2. Composite Category

Materials

33

6Information

347

Pluralistic Society

336

Safety & Security

12

Cross-cutting Themes

2226654152024

1862

3“. Only-one”Category

Total

3

Number of Selections
13

D SCHOOL AND BOSP OF
STANFORD UNIVERSITY

14

・D school makes possible to realize the fusion in other fields
・provides the place of discussion with diverse background of people
・provides opportunity to make design thinking
・provides place for manufacturing where people can start over even if they fail (place of trial and15error)

Bing Overseas StudiesProgram(BOSP)• Program： students study one or more quarters at

most overseas locations• Internship（HIP)• For upper division students• Purpose： School of Engineering program ofStanford university employs study abroad programin order for engineering students to acquire skills toact globally• To obtain certain level performance of foreign

language in overseas centers• Overseas centers： Australia, Beijing, Berlin, CapeTown, Florence, Istanbul, Kyoto, Madrid, Oxford,Paris, and Santiago16

Background and Purpose of Stanford BOSP• Engineer as occupation is recognized as Internationally compatible one• Many graduate of school of Engineering have working experiences inoverseas, experiences of consulting with other countries, of management inoverseas companies•What kind of elements are necessary and important for globalizedengineer?

•Cultural Literacy and Intercultural Literacy are the foundation and shouldbe acquired through undergraduate education

Study abroad experience is indispensable for future globalized engineers

17

PROGRAM OF SINGAPORE
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGYAND DESIGN

18

Program of SUTD
• SUTD is a new national university ofscience and technology established in2009 with the cooperation of MIT in theUnited States and Zhejiang University in
China• The number of students was about 1300 asof 2016
• Being design-oriented is the basis ofeducation• The characteristics of being design-

based ：
(1) an integrative, interdisciplinary
approach(2) having real-world experiences in thecurriculum
19

The curriculum is based onhumanities and social
sciences as well as
engineering and science

It is designed for students totake these subjects in the firstsemester of the first year andthe second year. It is possible tofoster design-based thinking by
taking subjects based on theapproach of culture and sciencein the first and second years
Students are required toexperience three Independent
Activities Periods (IAPs) andsummer vacations require
study internships abroad atoverseas partner schools orinternships at companies in
Singapore and abroad

ThreeFeatures ofCurriculumand Program

20

The Teaching Methods• (1) cohort learning and active learning• (2) use of cohort classrooms andfabrication labs
• (3) design projects: The design project is
one of the basic ideas when the university
was established and it is used for all
design-related projects related toengineering such as architecture,industrial products, software, systems,etc• Faculty: many foreign faculty members

from Asian and Western countries

2121

Conclusion and Further Challenges• Development of interdisciplinary programs between STEM, arts, humanity

and social sciences is essential as the cases of three countries indicate• There are many issues to be overcome for promoting collaboration between

STEM and Non-STEM Disciplines programs
1. how to integrate research evaluations of each field
2. how the laboratory culture specific to the field will be merged
3. how to connect the performance of inter- and cross-disciplinary
educational programs to the profession.
22• New Directions of STEM

Research and Learning in theWorld Ranking Movement：A
Comparative Perspective• Editors: Hawkins,
J.N., Yamada, A., Yamada,R., Jacob, W.J. (Eds.)• Palgrave Macmillan, 2018
• https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/97833199

86654

23

•References
Chipperfield, S.,Kulturel-Konak., S., & Konak, A. (2015). Assessing students' global

awareness, Integrated STEM Education Conference, 2015 IEEE.
• Hawkins, J. N. (2007). The Intractable Dominant Educational Paradigm, Changing
Education: Leadership, Innovation and Development in a Globalizing Asia Pacific,
edited by Hershock, P. D., Mason, M., & Hawkins, J. N., Dordrecht, The Netherlands
and Hong Kong: Springer and Comparative Education Research Centre, Universityof Hong Kong, 137-162.
• Jacob, W. J. (2015). Interdisciplinary Trends in Higher Education, Palgrave
Communications 1 (1), 1-5.
• Murray, P., & Horn, R. (2012). A global curriculum and global working environment,International Conference on Innovation, Practice and Research in Engineering
Education, EE2012.
• Strelner, S. C., Cunningham, S., Huang, S., Levonisova, S., Matherty, C.., BesterfieldSacre, M. E., Shuman, L. J., & Ragusa, G. (2014). Exploring engineering education inbroader context: a framework of engineering global preparedness, 121st ASEEE
Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis.
• Vance, K., Kulturel-Konak, S., & Konak, A. (2014). Assessing teamwork skills andknowledge, Integrated STEM Education Conference, 2014 IEEE.
• Yamada, A. (2018). Developing Global Competences Through InterdisciplinaryStudies: Why Collaboration Is Important Between STEM and Non-STEM Students,
New Directions of STEM Research and Learning in the World Ranking Movement: A
Comparative Perspective edited by Hawkins, J. N., Yamada, A., Yamada, R, & Jacob.,
W. J., Gewerbestrasse: Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan, 79-96.
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• Thank you very much

Please feel free to ask
ryamada@mail.doshisha.ac.jp

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