Environmental Management and Sustainability (with placement) BSc (Hons)

Harper Adams University

The World is facing a number of global crises – biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, climate change and threats to food and energy supplies.

The Environmental Management and Sustainability programme is built around the water, energy and food nexus. Expertise in areas including climate change adaptation and mitigation, water management, sustainable energy, land use and food security are integrated in this programme to train a new generation of professionals. A key focus will be practical approaches to the productive management of land whilst balancing the needs of society for a healthy environment. This will include thriving biodiversity, clean water and air, and safety from natural hazards (such as floods and extreme weather) wrought by climate change, agricultural intensification and the demands of a growing UK and global population. Graduates will develop the skills to address sustainable development issues.

This course will provide a combination of underpinning theory and practical application to demonstrate key concepts and allow students to develop their own specialist areas of interest. This programme is interdisciplinary in nature and students can expect to gain a wide variety of insights into environmental management and sustainability. In addition, students will develop transferable skills for use in graduate employment or in the pursuit of postgraduate research.

Each year of the programme includes fieldwork and a residential field course in every year. The final year course is currently in South Africa, while the 2nd year course will be in Europe. These residential field courses are supplemented by a wide range of field trips to local sites to contextualise material introduced in lectures and seminars. The programme has a strong applied focus using standard industry techniques underpinned by science.

Industry best practise has been driven by technological advances in remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and geographical information systems (GIS). The application of these technologies is embedded in the course to promote environmental management and sustainability.

The first two years of the course include an emphasis on professional development and employability. In their third year, all students undertake work placement of at least 44 weeks. Students will have a wide range of exciting opportunities available to them. During the placement year, students will have the support of the placement manager and a dedicated tutor. After successfully completing the placement students return to the university to re-join their cohort for the final year of the degree.

The university is situated in a rural location with easy access to the countryside of Cheshire and Shropshire, including the Meres and Mosses and the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The university also has its own estate of 400ha including a range of agricultural and semi-natural habitats. The estate and local sites are used in the course for site visits and practical exercises.

This is a new course, but it builds on a long history of related courses, taught by staff with a wide range of academic and professional expertise. The BSc (Hons) Environmental Management and Sustainability is proposed to be accredited by the Institute of Environmental Management (IEMA) reflecting its inclusion of the teaching of knowledge and skills that are critical to protecting our environment now and in the future. Accreditation ensures that the curriculum is aligned to best practice in the sector.

Graduates will find a diversity of employment opportunities from environmental consultancy and advisors specialising in sustainable business management and environmental land management, to professional roles working in renewable energy, sustainable food production and catchment management. Employers include public and private organisations including NGOs such as the National Trust through to local authorities and the Environment Agency.