Bridging Mathematical Thinking Across Disciplines: An Integrative Review and Future-Oriented Framework for Interdisciplinary Higher Education

Abstract

Contemporary universities are expected to prepare graduates for problems that cross disciplinary, technological, social and ecological boundaries, yet mathematics is still frequently taught as a self-contained body of procedures. This review examines how interdisciplinary approaches can reposition mathematical thinking as a rigorous, transferable and socially responsive capability in higher education. The study used a PRISMA-informed qualitative systematic review design. The source manuscript documented searches across Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC and SABINET for literature connecting mathematics education, higher education and interdisciplinary or curriculum-transformation approaches; the corpus was supplemented with a targeted currency update of relevant 2025–2026 scholarship. Eligible publications were appraised for conceptual clarity, methodological transparency, an explicit relationship to mathematics and relevance to higher-education practice, then synthesised thematically. Five interdependent findings were established. First, productive interdisciplinarity requires epistemological bridging rather than merely adding contextual examples. Second, authentic modelling, data-rich inquiry and sustainability problems can connect abstraction with disciplinary and societal meaning while retaining mathematical rigour. Third, meaningful integration depends on collaborative curriculum design and staff capability across disciplinary boundaries. Fourth, interdisciplinary work can support engagement, metacognition, perspective-taking, communication, and critical reasoning when these outcomes are explicitly taught and assessed. Fifth, disciplinary silos, rigid programme structures, workload pressures, uneven digital resources and epistemic exclusion can weaken implementation, particularly in unequal higher-education systems. Building on these findings, the article proposes a context-responsive framework organised around authentic problems, mathematical rigour, collaboration, epistemic justice, assessment for integration and institutional enablement. The framework offers universities a practical basis for designing future-oriented mathematics curricula that connect disciplinary depth with complex real-world problem solving without reducing mathematics to a service subject.