Tackling 21st Century Dilemmas Together
As a 21st Century graduate, one thing is certain: to be successful and meet the challenges ahead, you’ll need to be as adaptable and resourceful as possible. An education with an interdisciplinary base will ensure that you have the skills and the knowledge to meet these challenges head on.
At Exeter, we believe that working across disciplines to address the cultural, social, economic and/or environmental questions that lie at the heart of many of the most significant issues facing society in the 21st century will give you a greater understanding of your own discipline.
The Grand Challenges programme at Exeter will introduce you to these issues and others, enabling you to work collaboratively with students from across the University to address them. And in doing so, you will learn essential skills that will benefit your degree and future career.
The dilemmas
All first year students will take part in the Grand Challenges. Starting from your very first week at Exeter, you’ll be introduced to the scheme and the kind of dilemmas you’ll go on to investigate. During week 6 of the first term, you’ll then select which challenge you wish to investigate following some taster sessions.
Your first year will then conclude with an 11-day programme where you will work with fellow students, an academic lead and external experts to intensely investigate your area of interest. The programme will also feature cultural, social and sporting elements including a festival on campus during the middle weekend.
Examples of the dilemmas available include:
Human security vs power politics: the debate about international security
Water security – living with droughts and floods
Growing old: burden or blessing?
Societal changes in the 21st century: the health of children
The creation of new life forms – a dangerous future or the way forward for humanity?
Society and the Arts: The State, Censorship and Social Responsibility
How do we make our banks serve the common good without endangering our prosperity?
Solving the climate change problem: mitigation, adaptation or geoengineering?
Big Society: Broken or Olympian? (Cornwall campus)
Growth or conservation? – valuing Falmouth’s sea, shore and people (Cornwall campus)
