Interdisciplinary education is a difficult topic. In the past, the provision of courses outside the student's own discipline has been thought to provide some experience in this respect. However, one must query the efficiency of this since in the end it could lead to trivialization of topics and the education of generalists without sufficient depth of education in any one discipline. There may indeed be a place for this form of education but there is merit in attempting to analyze the skills required in interdisciplinary work-in which many academics are involved as consultants to the profession. We might, therefore, gain greatly from the considerable expertise and experience which some sectors of the profession have in this respect.
Innovation is an elusive concept and much discussion has centered on whether it can be taught.
Such exercises require the student to hypothesize solutions to problems which they have not previously experienced, by building on their existing knowledge, understanding, and know-how in a domain of new, innovative actions. If may be that motivation for the maintenance and development of skills is the key factor in this regard. It is a requirement that students taking this route are fluent in the language of their host university prior to departure and that they study on a par with their fellow students in the host institution. The process adds significantly to the mutual recognition of university qualifications across Europe and may well, in time, form the basis of a European accreditation system. However, one would query the extent to which this year abroad is used in a conscious development of the skills required of scientists and engineers who will operate at an increasingly international level.