Introduction

The basic question this book addresses is: what is the significance of disciplines in contemporary higher education across the world? This is an important question because of the changes to higher education institutions and systems that have been happening. Some have argued that disciplines are dead or dying, replaced by interdisciplinary forms of organisation as higher education becomes more oriented to solving pressing real-world problems through multidisciplinary task-oriented formations that draw in expertise from beyond universities. The massification of higher education and its market focus, together with the entry into the university curriculum of vocational areas previously excluded, have meant that traditional disciplinary structures are being replaced by a modularised smorgasbord from which students choose, or by interdisciplinary approaches to an area of study – such as nursing or media studies. For others, however the continuing evaluation of disciplinary-based research by governments both reinforces and confirms the continued salience of disciplinary forms of organisation.