Harvard University announced today that it would establish a campuswide committee to foster collaboration among its academic science and engineering departments, its medical school, and its hospitals, and would provide $50-million to start the effort.

The new coordinating body is a response to a report, issued last summer, that said conducting interdisciplinary research and creating educational programs that bridge departments was difficult at the university because individual schools operate with unusual autonomy.

Although the report called for the committee to have the authority to hire faculty members, allocate space, and establish new research and teaching programs, today’s announcement states that its role will mainly be advisory. The group of deans, hospital executives, and science faculty members will recommend policies and evaluate plans, but will not directly hire or promote individual faculty members or make final decisions.