Breaking Down Disciplinary Barriers: Toward Integrative Research Methodology (Case Studies of Cadi Ayyad University and the Modern Mohammed VI Polytechnic University)
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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6276-1540
Abstract
This study aims to explore the state of interdisciplinarity in the scholarly publications of faculty members in the Department of Public Law and Political Science and the Department of Economics and Management at Cadi Ayyad University (Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences), as well as at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to diagnosing the reality of interdisciplinarity within Moroccan universities, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and mapping the obstacles and enablers that shape interdisciplinary research. The purpose is not merely to describe the extent and manifestations of interdisciplinarity, but also to underscore its growing importance and the global trend toward its adoption, since the mission of the university is to generate knowledge rather than constrain it within rigid disciplinary boundaries. Accordingly, the study investigates faculty awareness of interdisciplinary research and their engagement in interdisciplinary projects through a mixed – methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative techniques to capture all dimensions of the phenomenon. This involved selecting a purposive sample of faculty publications, compiling and analyzing these works, and recording the degrees of interdisciplinarity they exhibit. In addition, a comparative approach was adopted to juxtapose findings between the two contrasting universities. The study finds that interdisciplinarity is indeed present – albeit at varying levels – across most of the collected corpus, with only a modest difference between the two institutions. Interdisciplinarity is more pronounced in the publications of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University faculty than in those of Cadi Ayyad University, a result attributable to the former’s modern orientation, which is fundamentally grounded in policies of creativity, innovation, and the crossing of disciplinary boundaries, yielding tangible outcomes in promoting interdisciplinary research.
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Degree of InterdisciplinarityIntegrative MethodologyBridgingDisciplinary BoundariesUniversity
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