Interdisciplinary Studies

In the 21st century, people are living and working in a world that increases in complexity by the minute. And so it is that the workplace has evolved to a point where it is sometimes difficult to categorize an occupation based on the skills and knowledge of a single field. Institutions of higher education are increasingly combining courses from different fields into order to prepare the workers of the future.

Academic programs that offer courses from more than one area are known as interdisciplinary programs. Here is the formal definition of interdisciplinary programs:

Interdisciplinary programs are instructional programs that derive from two or more distinct programs to provide a cross-cutting focus on a subject concentration that is not subsumed under a single discipline or occupational field.

Degrees from interdisciplinary programs aid students in developing skills, knowledge, and aptitudes necessary to seek employment in fields that overlap and are highly complex. MCC's first interdisciplinary degree is in Critical Facilities Operations where skills from information technology and multiple trades converge to prepare workers in critical facilities like hospitals and data centers.