Learning Beyond Borders: Reframing Global Competence Through Interdisciplinary Education in the Post-Covid Era

This chapter examines how global competence (GC), as articulated in major international policy frameworks, can be connected to interdisciplinary (ID) and transdisciplinary (TD) education at the level of policy analysis. It addresses a gap between two strands of discussion that have often developed separately: research on GC, which has primarily clarified intended learning outcomes, and research on ID and TD education, which has primarily examined how integration and collaboration can be organised in practice. To connect these strands, the chapter analyses major GC policy documents and identifies the verbs and criteria through which attainment is described. It then examines policy documents on ID and TD education and organises recurring implementation demands into four functions: Translation, Alignment, Integration, and Publicness. On this basis, the chapter re-reads Japanese higher education and science, technology, and innovation policies through a two-layer structure. The analysis shows that Layer 1, which concerns institutional frameworks and implementation arrangements, makes elements related to Alignment comparatively explicit, whereas Layer 2, which concerns externally driven policy demands, foregrounds Integration and Publicness. By contrast, Translation, particularly the initial work of establishing shared understanding across disciplinary boundaries, remains less clearly institutionalised. The chapter therefore argues that the central policy–practice gap in Japanese interdisciplinary education lies in the fact that Japanese policy does not give Translation a clear institutional place.