Interdisciplinarity in brazilian universities: trajectory and challenges

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to promote a reflection about the interdisciplinary practices, trajectory and challenges on Brazilian universities. The text begins by describing the concept of interdisciplinarity, establishing its difference from the concepts of multidisciplinarity, pluridisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. It presents the evolution of debates and the precursory ideas of Georges Gusdof in France and Hilton Japiassu and Ivani Fazenda in Brazil. It describes the historical process of the interdisciplinary graduating courses. It also highlights the leading role of some researchers that have fostered the creation of the multidisciplinary area of CAPES Committee which subsequently became the interdisciplinary area. It discusses the difficulties found in establishing the first criteria for the operation and institutionalization of the interdisciplinarity Committee, the quantitative data from the vertiginous growth in interdisciplinarity, with emphasis on the evolution on the number students, scholarships and professors, as well as the more recent increase in interdisciplinary graduation courses. It finishes with some of the main challenges and problems to the practice of interdisciplinary research and teaching.