Within the three LDE universities, there are several educational programmes in which students collaborate with social partners, under names such as “impact education”, “transdisciplinary education” or “challenge-based education”. If we want to educate students in a future-proof manner, it is crucial that they learn to collaborate with partners in the field and to integrate knowledge from different disciplines. After all, societal issues such as energy transition, migration or security – the so-called wicked problems – cannot be solved by a single discipline or sector.
How can this type of education be organised successfully? What does it require in terms of teaching methods, maintaining relationships with social partners, and collaborating with other educational institutions? Since 2021, a large number of initiatives within LDE have been exchanging knowledge on this subject. They do so within the LDE Community of Practice Transdisciplinary Education, which now has 30 members from the three universities.
The members are connected to successful initiatives including Impact at the Core and Hefhouse at Erasmus University; the Thesis Workshop The Hague Southwest and the thematic LDE Thesis Labs; Leiden Learning with the City and the Leiden Honours Academy; and WIJStad at Delft University of Technology. Coordinators and lecturers from progressive study programmes have also joined this Community. Within this Community, members share best practices, learn from each other and work together to find solutions to bottlenecks.
The group meets on average five times a year. Its members include lecturers, coordinators of degree programmes, minor programmes and thesis programmes, programme leaders, advisors and LDE trainees. Anyone involved in education with external partners within LDE can participate; please register with Marja Verstelle (m.verstelle@tudelft.nl). The group also has a LinkedIn group.
Photograph: Leren met de Stad
These educational programmes stem from the strategic ambitions of the three LDE universities to strengthen their involvement in society and the region. The staff members who put these strategic ambitions into practice on a daily basis, the members of the mentioned Community, have now drawn up a Position Paper. Based on their experiences and the opportunities and risks they see, they make recommendations for administrators of programmes, faculties, and universities. The aim of the Position Paper is to stimulate discussion about a sustainable way of organising transdisciplinary education. In their view, regional cooperation can play an important role in this.
The LDE office is therefore exploring with the authors which of the identified actions could be taken up jointly and how, and where, these could contribute to the implementation of the LDE strategy in the coming years.
>> Download the Position Paper at the bottom of this article.
Some of the authors of the Position Paper:
Ilse Markensteijn, Manager LDE Centre for Sustainability en LDE Thesis Labs: “LDE has wonderful transdisciplinary education initiatives. I am delighted with our close collaboration. We learn from each other and together we demonstrate what is needed to make transdisciplinary education commonplace.”
Frieda Franke, Business Developer at Erasmus University Rotterdam en Projectlead Hefhouse: “Transdisciplinary education requires time and courage. Universities need to realise that a clear objective and an integrated approach are needed to achieve this. The focus must shift from a “nice to have” to a “must-have”.”
Merlina Slotboom, Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for BOLD Cities: “With this position paper, we want to highlight the urgency of structurally embedding transdisciplinary education so that we can work with social partners and other educational institutions to contribute to concrete solutions in a sustainable manner. Only by integrating education, research and collaboration can we make a real impact.”
Marieke van Haaren, Programme Manager Leren met de Stad Leiden: “Education that addresses social issues provides students with practical experience, allowing them to practise (interdisciplinary) skills such as (interdisciplinary) collaboration. It also contributes to their orientation in the labour market. All of this is relevant to our students. A student who recently participated in Learning with the City aptly expressed that she had learned that, as a scientist, you can be of significance to your immediate environment: 'And if you think something needs to change here, you are also capable of doing so.'”
Saskia Postema, Project Manager Challenge Based Education TU Delft/WIJStad: “The added value of transdisciplinary education lies in creating a perspective for action and learning to appreciate different types of knowledge and skills. As a university partnership, we must set a good example in this regard; that is where our strength lies.”
Appendix
Download the Position Paper (396.52kB)