Equip students with interdisciplinary skills for the future with the Inner Development Goals

As global challenges become increasingly complicated, higher education needs a paradigm shift that emphasises transformative competencies through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning. At the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, we align inter- and transdisciplinary education to shape societal transformation through, for example, sustainable urban development, equitable healthcare systems or circular economies.

Addressing “wicked problems” requires students to integrate both disciplinary and lay knowledge. Innovative tools, methods and practices are essential to help them to bridge these perspectives in both educational and professional contexts.

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Our innovative interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary courses equip students with essential skills for societal transformation, such as empathy and perspective-taking, critical reflexivity, resilience and agency. Building on the Inner Development Goals, this approach explores the human growth needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, as formulated in the UN Agenda for 2030. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and valuing diverse knowledge sources, students learn to work together to address complex challenges.

The Inner Development Goals Framework outlines 23 essential skills and qualities across five dimensions: Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating and Acting. It highlights the interplay of personal and collective skills within systems, which are interconnected and constantly evolving. By embedding the framework into our teaching, we provide a structured yet adaptable approach for cultivating the personal and social competencies required to navigate complexity, collaborate effectively and actively shape solutions for an increasingly complex world. 

The framework’s focus on integrating diverse perspectives aligns with the principles of interdisciplinarity, fostering a holistic understanding and approach to addressing challenges. Through projects such as the Transition Makers’ Toolbox, Placemaking and the Transition Cycle Method, we translate these principles into practice, offering learning experiences designed to prepare students for the future.

Transition Makers’ Toolbox
The Transition Makers Toolbox is a collection of open-source educational materials for educators to implement in their classrooms, helping students develop the cognitive, affective and collaborative abilities needed for meaningful societal impact. It translates the Inner Development Goals into intended learning outcomes, paired with step-by-step learning activities, assessment and additional resources, tailored for educational contexts. Co-created within a community of Dutch higher education professionals, the Toolbox facilitates innovative teaching to help students cultivate essential skills and attitudes, with tools for deep listening, acting in alignment with your values, navigating uncertainty, inclusive decision-making, staying optimistic and being resilient.

Placemaking 
The university-wide Placemaking programme exemplifies challenge-driven education by addressing local, place-based issues through an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach. In this programme, students collaborate in interdisciplinary teams, integrating academic disciplinary knowledge with lay knowledge to tackle local challenges. 

Grounded in the principles of the Inner Development Goals, the Placemaking approach promotes transformative learning as students begin with socio-spatial research on-site, blending diverse perspectives to develop a holistic understanding of an urban issue, such as liveability and accessibility of public spaces, climate adaptive cities or community-driven revitalised neighbourhoods. By engaging with stakeholders and experts, and co-creating and implementing small-scale interventions, students gain practical experience in navigating complexity and driving change.

Transition Cycle Method
Further extending our exploration, the Transition Cycle Method, applied in the course Change Making, offers a structured approach to learning basic skills for managing complex transition challenges within an interdisciplinary team. This method connects four phases: imagine, connect, act and assess. The Inner Development Goals framework has been integrated into this method to provide a foundational basis for cultivating the personal and social competencies essential for navigating complexity and fostering collaboration in interdisciplinary contexts. 

By embedding the IDGs, the method not only emphasises technical and analytical skills but fosters self-awareness, relational capacities and action-oriented mindsets. Our method’s effectiveness is in developing students’ skills to address complexity, uncertainty and resistance. 

Building on these educational approaches, we aim to provide a comprehensive framework for embedding transformative and interdisciplinary competencies within higher education curricula. By highlighting the necessity of aligning educational practices with real-world challenges and creating a reflective, responsive and caring learning environment with the framework, we contribute to the ongoing discourse on preparing students for the future. Through this integrated educational approach, we aspire to prepare the next generations to transcend disciplinary boundaries and drive meaningful societal change with insight, empathy and action.

Debby Gerritsen is curriculum developer; Rosanne van Wieringen is educational innovator; Belle Jansen is project coordinator at the Teaching & Learning Centre; Jasper ter Schegget is educational developer; Linda de Greef is innovation lead and Katusha Sol is educational developer, all at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Amsterdam. 

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