Global Health Challenge: case study of a co-designed interdisciplinary initiative with local organizations in support of internationalization of curricula

The educational practices of design and health care are changing because of the extremely complex problems being faced within contemporary society, moving beyond individually practiced subjects towards more collaborative, interdisciplinary team-based activities. To this end, education is exchanging knowledge, skills and experiences in more ambitious ways in an effort to mobilize knowledge and connect diverse subject expertise in an agile manner. It is doing so as a means of unleashing an individual and collective capacity for creativity, enterprise and innovation, in commercial and social forms. It is doing so in order to nurture an entrepreneurial mindset while offering unique real-word learning experiences and genuine exploration of alternate futures. The authors build on creative methods and the concept of co-design to develop a framework that provides a platform from which the value of new, community based interdisciplinary teams working on global health challenges can be critically discussed. Furthermore, this case contributes to the increasing awareness of design as an alternative strategy for enabling entrepreneurship while also facilitating, the potential for social and cultural transformation in design and health care, and education more broadly. It does so by indicating pathways and further application of creativity, design research and medical knowledge in the everyday world of everyday people. It closes with critical reflections and phase one insights into how universities can deliver creative learning opportunities that contribute to city life and its healthcare while concurrently addressing the internationalization of curricula for sustainable solutions to global health challenges