 The Institute of Physics are supporting the development of a new degree, Integrated Sciences. They're working in partnership with the universities of Surrey, London's South Bank, East Anglia and Leicester. I'm Professor Derek Raine. I'm head of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Science. The new Integrated Sciences degree is an attempt to bring together the various sciences into a meaningful relationship so that people can address real-world problems from a scientific perspective. They learn to be scientists by actually doing science as science is practiced. The national programme has one key element and that is that the teaching of the sciences should be integrated. So we're not just teaching some biology and some physics and some chemistry. We're teaching those subjects in an integrated way. I wanted to do all the sciences anyway. I didn't want to just do biology because just doing a single one I'd find myself getting bored quite quickly. For me I wasn't looking specifically for courses. I'm a mature student. I wasn't looking to go to university until I learnt about this course. It was actually the idea of iScience as a composite subject coupled with the problem-based learning that made me want to come to university in the first place. So without this course I wouldn't have actually gone for any other course at all. The way that integration happens is different between the different institutions. The way we've chosen to do it is to take modules which are themselves interdisciplinary so that they can reflect the real-world situation. Other universities have chosen to have some modules that are interdisciplinary but keep the separation between physics, chemistry and biology at the core level and to integrate through tutorial system, to integrate through particular modules. Are you going to push it over that danger? This is not an easier way into science and the issue of physics is helping us to establish the fact that this is a fully fledged degree program at the same level as other degree programs. You learn what you like to learn. There might be a part that you don't want to learn but someone else will like that and they'll learn and they'll teach you about it and because they're enthusiastic about it, you know, they'll rub off on you and you'll learn more in depth as well. So it's the ability to have a broad knowledge and an in-depth knowledge of specific things. The level at which I understand some of the different areas of science has gone a lot deeper and I'm finding both the breadth and the depth of knowledge I'm able to apply to all other areas and, you know, just study in life and things I've come across and watched on TV. The way I see integrated sciences is that it forms the broad basis of science education that then feeds in a very positive way to teach it because you have enthusiastic educators who can teach across the board and that then produces a virtuous circle of people into science. Some small subset of which will then go on to be specialists in physics, chemistry, biology, sciences but the majority of which will increase the economic potential of the country and increase their own intellectual rewards. It can't really put it into words. Like, it's just the whole course itself. It's just interesting and fascinating and just the whole concepts of how you work together and you won't get that with an ordinary course.