Engaging students in extracurricular activities is not necessarily an easy task as students’ time is normally fully booked with academic activities, work, sports etc. Studies also show that extracurricular activities first and foremost attract students who have the time and energy to consider how extracurricular activities can benefit their learning, their CVs, and future careers. In addition to this, there are a few additional challenges attached to the offering of interdisciplinary extracurriculars. Often interdisciplinary extracurriculars are open to students from a broad variety of programs. Thus, the thematic frame of the activity must necessarily be broad and open, inviting students to define a more precise issue or problem within the frame. A caveat here is that much of the available time risks being consumed by discussions on narrowing down a topic or focus, leaving students with the experience that they need more time, and that the academic rewards of participating in the event are limited. Furthermore, the broader the theme, the more difficult it might also be for students to relate the outcomes of the activity to the academic profile of their program. A source of motivation for students, then, is the experience of relevance of an activity to their own academic profile. In addition, getting to use one’s competences in the solution of a common problem and the social aspect of spending time together with students from other programs also strengthen students’ interests in participating in interdisciplinary curriculars. For teachers organizing interdisciplinary extracurriculars, it may be a challenge to find the balance between attracting a heterogeneous student group (which students seem to appreciate) and creating an academically rewarding experience for everyone (which is also expected by students).

Where interdisciplinary activities are connected to the students’ curriculum, students often have the choice to select this activity among a set of alternatives (for example internships or ‘traditional’ semester projects). In such a setting, the interdisciplinary option (typically the interdisciplinary project) may present itself as the more ‘exiting’ or creative alternative and attract students who are motivated by the chance of doing a ‘cool’ or ‘fun’ project. But students are also motivated by elements that bring them closer to the professional and practical settings that they imagine as their future workplaces (for example companies and professionals from the relevant industries). Furthermore, the interdisciplinary project may represent an opportunity to contribute to the solution of problems that exceed the boundaries of the individual program (such as for example the green transition, the SDGs). In interviews students mention significant learning gains, not least because interdisciplinary projects challenge participants in a number of ways. They typically require professional collaboration skills, willingness to acquire unfamiliar knowledge, and simply a higher workload on the part of the participants. Students’ motivation may drop if these extra efforts are not sufficiently recognized. If choosing the interdisciplinary project is perceived as involving an extra risk (for example related to being dependent on students from other programs), it is important that support from supervisors is available.