The STEM Ecosystem: building cross-disciplinary leadership capacity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are critical for national productivity and global competitiveness. Demand for tertiary graduates with cross-disciplinary STEM skills will continue to exponentially exceed supply in Australia in the next 25 years (McLaughlin & Reid, 2012). Leadership in the promotion of STEM cross-disciplinary learning and teaching is critical to the development of future graduates. With these identified skills shortages across the STEM professions, there is a growing need for academic staff to impart knowledge from their own disciplines across new STEM learning boundaries and build skills in providing cross-disciplinary STEM opportunities for future graduates. This project, through the connection of industry, STEM academics and students created these opportunities and demonstrated the emerging potential in cross-disciplinary learning and teaching. The project also forged new patterns of learning opportunities in STEM tertiary education across Australia and crossed discipline and Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) boundaries.