Ruskin Modules (RM) are the unique version of interdisciplinary breadth modules at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). Through an ambition to better prepare students for a future of rapid change, RMs were formally introduced in ARU’s Education Strategy 2018-22 as interdisciplinary breadth modules focused on societal and global challenges. With these challenges as a central factor, the aim was to develop a means by which students could question their perceptions and develop flexible mindsets.

RMs stand on three pillars of interdisciplinarity, sustainability, and employability. They were designed to be universal without subject-specific content and were, therefore, appropriate for all disciplines. RMs were compulsory for second year undergraduates and, as a result, drew students from all 14 schools across ARU’s four faculties. Consequently, RMs were interdisciplinary, offering students the opportunity to share with, and learn from, other disciplines. RM content was designed around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which provided a clear focus on sustainability. RM leaders designed content to enhance students’ employability in several ways, including active collaborative learning, a requirement to engage in group work and assessment, exposure to a range of research methodologies, and engagement with various presentation apps and programs to improve their digital literacy.

The conjunction of sustainability and interdisciplinarity was completed by using ‘wicked problems’ to structure assessments, where students were faced with seemingly intractable problems with ‘solutions’ requiring a multifaceted approach; a necessary skill in many occupations.

Change in working practice is frequently unpopular, and the introduction of RMs at ARU became a ‘wicked problem’ in its own right. However, despite unsurprising criticism from some quarters, the RMs continue to embed, and expand, into the learning and teaching culture at ARU, with 16 of the 19 RMs running for a second time, and four new RMs approved for the third iteration.

The introduction of Ruskin Modules was a significant institutional initiative. Creating credit-bearing, interdisciplinary breadth modules, unrelated to any specific subject was a risky endeavour, but to make them compulsory for second year undergraduates was a considerable gamble. As this meant a change and a challenge to the accepted order of learning and teaching, it is hardly surprising that reaction was divided.

Now entering the fourth year, RMs are becoming accepted by both staff and students as part and parcel of the undergraduate learning journey.

Keywords: Breadth modules, interdisciplinarity, sustainability, employability, wicked problems, institutional change.