Maeve Pearson (Academic Support Office), Scott Slorach (York Law School), Roddy Vann (Natural Sciences Programme Director), and Lisa O’Malley (Department of Social Policy and Social Work)

Abstract | Presentation | Recording

Do combined programmes have the capacity to “add value”
to students’ learning? This was the question posed by the panel in this insightful workshop at the Learning & Teaching conference 2016.

Jonathan, the student rep for Natural Sciences, shared his experiences of undertaking a combined degree across multiple departments. He felt that combined degrees certainly provided added value as he could approach problems from multiple perspectives, using tools from Maths, Chemistry and Physics. The design of the programme was a key factor in it’s success with all first year modules being core and then more flexibility in the second year once students were in a position to make
a more informed decision about choices.

The panel went on to discuss some of the practicalities of designing and delivering combined degrees. This was made difficult by the infrastructure being designed for single subject degrees. However, it was clear that the benefits of these programmes outweighed the issues and that a well designed combined programme could provide students with a an opportunity to approach problems from two or more perspectives.