Interdisciplinary project teams on agriculture and environment: A problem-oriented approach

Abstract

In a one-year, postgraduate, professional training course an interdisciplinary project approach is taught to prepare disciplinary specialists for interdisciplinary team work. This paper is based on five years of experience with such projects and deals with the conditions necessary to engage successfully in interdisciplinary project teaching. A high degree of organisation, firm guidance at the start of the project, feedback on actual practice from experts, the importance of cyclical working methods, the use of project planning techniques and product-oriented thinking are elements to be stressed. As an illustration a project is presented on environmental policy for a specific target group: greenhouse horticulturists in the province of Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands.