Universities today often teach students in one of two ways: by providing them training for a specific career path (without the soft skills needed to succeed in that profession or a recognition that one’s career might change in the future) or by teaching broad liberal arts concepts without the toolkit to apply them effectively to solve real world challenges. Neither of these approaches prepares young people for a lifetime of meaningful work in our rapidly changing world. Transdisciplinary teaching, which sometimes faces scepticism from traditional disciplinary silos, promotes the development of durable, transferable skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, and more. Considering both Asian and global examples, this talk will describe how a true – and modernly reimagined – transdisciplinary approach teaches students how to apply core concepts across contexts, thereby developing durable skills applicable to any career path they pursue.
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