MSc Sustainable Environmental Management

Overview & facilities

MA award also available

The need for environmental sustainability is increasingly acknowledged in policy areas throughout the developed and developing world. This course is designed for people looking to gain a high-level qualification in the theory and practical application of sustainable environmental management. The skills offered by the course are applicable in a range of professions, including sectors where environmental targets imply changes of practice and management processes.

By studying MSc-MA Sustainable Environmental Management at Middlesex University, you will gain an awareness of the causes and possible solutions to a range of environmental issues. You will develop the ability to evaluate the constraints and opportunities facing a variety of institutions. You will also acquire knowledge and skills required to influence and implement policies and to make them more sustainable.

The course has been designed for students from a broad range of backgrounds ? it attracts a diverse and international student body, which promotes the sharing of ideas on a global scale. The course is suitable for applicants from a wide range of academic backgrounds, seeking to add sustainability skills to existing academic or professional expertise. While the MA option caters for applicants with a background ranging from management and business to social sciences, the MSc is suited for applicants with science and technical experience.

Teaching staff includes researchers from our world-renowned Flood Hazard Research Centre, which also provides consultancy and Continuing Professional Development training for practitioners in the field. Staff members are active in a range of research projects which feed into the teaching programme, most notably in the form of a field trip opportunity to southern Spain where staff members have conducted extensive research into desertification processes and management and policy solutions.

In 2010-12 the INSPIRE Project which will offer funding for up to three student dissertations focusing on sustainable coastal management in Bangladesh. Funding will be offered to students that demonstrate the most potential.

Course highlights:

• Teaching by specialist staff including researchers from our world-renowned Flood Hazard Research Centre
• Field work in the UK
• Internship and work based learning opportunities.

Download the course flyer

Content & modules

The programme is designed for students with an interest in the application of sustainable environmental management principles in practice, with an emphasis on the link between global problems and policies and local actions.

This programmeis based at our flagship Hendon campus.

Full-time students attend three or four days a week and part-time students one or two days, depending on your choice of optional modules.

Includes coursework projects, reports and essays, verbal and visual presentation skills, as well as the dissertation.

Modules

• Year 1

  Disaster Mitigation in the Development Context (30 Credits) - Optional

  Many feel that the World, and particularly the so called Third World is becoming a more dangerous place as the number and severity of natural events, such as the Boxing day Tsunami of 2005, appear to have increased in recent years. The module begins by critically examining this contention and reflecting on how present development and disaster policy initiatives are tackling the issue. Rather than examining how nature produces such hazards, the module aims to highlight how these hazardous events become disasters through examination of their root causes, their relationship with existing development process and their differentiated impact on the human population. The module goes on to develop understanding of what happens after an event like a hurricane, focussing on often marginalised aspects of disasters, such as the psychosocial impact on those who survive and secondary disasters that follow such as gender based violence. The module aims to highlight how disasters are as much political, social and economic events as they are natural occurrences and to facilitate the development of the related skills necessary to help mitigate the impact of potentially disastrous events in the future.

  Dissertation Masters (60 Credits) - Compulsory

  Aims to enable students to investigate in depth a research question related to the programme of study. Allow students to apply the theory and skills developed in the programme to a topic in policy analysis, project evaluation or professional practice. Enable students to demonstrate mastery of the process skills involved in undertaking a sustained investigation.

  Flood Risk Management (30 Credits) - Optional

  This module introduces students to three key dimensions of Flood Risk Management: 1 The physical basis of flood generation and flood frequency in the context of changing climatic and societal futures , and the global variation in flooding of differing causalities and frequencies; 2 Governance and Policies: the national and international policy and institutional context of Flood Risk Management, both in the UK and in other development contexts; 3 Solutions, Challenges and Approaches: delivering flood risk management to societies in a range of cultural and physical settings.

  Global Biodiversity Management (30 Credits) - Optional

  This module introduces students to the concept of biodiversity, its origins, Phanerozoic history and current global threat status emphasising the current context of climatic change/fluctuation. Concepts of climate-biota interaction are examined in depth and breadth whilst interactive relationships between organisms and planetary systems are investigated at a global level via a variety of data sources. Use of such evidence is examined as a means by which to examine current trends and their likely effects on Global Biodiversity. International conventions, national strategies and policies are examined to identify issues regarding biodiversity maintenance, and to investigate how these instruments can be practically applied to conserve, manage and use biodiversity sustainably for the foreseeable future. Mechanisms by which current global threats to biodiversity may be assessed and mitigated are examined with specific emphasis upon identifying issues associated with maintaining biodiversity in a rapidly changing world. Students are encouraged to critically investigate means by which these instruments can be practically applied to conserve, manage and use biodiversity sustainably. Case studies from More Developed Countries MDCs and Less Developed Countries LDCs will be used to illustrate practices.

  Global Environmental Issues, Policies and Institutions (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  This module examines the concept of sustainable development and sustainable environmental management within the context of global and national environmental issues, and critically examines the national and international policies designed to address these issues. Using a range of geographically and developmentally diverse case studies, students will be introduced to the wide range of contemporary environmental issues relevant to sustainable use of the environment. The course will also examine environmental conservation and management policies and investigate the constraints faced by institutions, at various levels, in addressing global and national problems through local actions. The module will also examine various approaches to managing change and policy implementation through the critical examination of the project cycle from a government and NGO perspective.

  Integrated Learning and Work (30 Credits) - Optional

  This practical experience module provides the means for students to link academic work with real world work experience related to the specific degree pathway they have chosen to follow. The aim is to enable the student to conceptualise the meaning of theory and policy decisions within the wider world context. This module also aims to develop and embed specific key skills which will facilitate career paths and employment in their chosen speciality. It is envisaged that the student will reflect and analyse areas of knowledge relevant to the placement learning experience and develop personal knowledge through review of learning. This learning experience provides students with the opportunity to enhance their skills of self-expression, communication, self-reliance, cooperation and team working within an area of work related to their chosen pathway.

  Law and Governance (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  The module is concerned with the extent to which Law and Governance may contribute to the protection of the physical environment. It introduces the concepts of environmental governance and issues of environmental law and their inter-relationship. It aims to enable students to develop a thorough understanding of the complex issues of institutional, economic and social framework within which management of the physical resources takes place, using water management as part of the examples. In addition, the module aims to provide detailed knowledge on the role which the law in theory and in practice has in the prevention, protection, clean up and compensation relating to harm caused to the environment.

  Research Methods (30 Credits) - Compulsory

  To provide graduate students with the organisational and management skills to administer an MSc/PhD research project. Management skills are supported by knowledge of experimental design, quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques, presentation skills and interactive computing skills. A range of environmental and technological examples will are used throughout the module to develop planning and analytical skills. Subject specific skills are provided by programme tutors to cover instrumental analytical techniques, specific case studies and specific data analyses relevant to individual programmes.

Entry & applying

Please apply directly to Middlesex University Code L801

We welcome applications from graduates with a good honours degree, or equivalent qualification, in an appropriate subject. We also consider candidates with other relevant qualifications and individuals with a minimum of three years' work experience. Those without formal qualifications need to demonstrate relevant work experience and the ability to study at postgraduate level.

Qualifications accepted

For a comprehensive list of qualifications accepted by Middlesex, see further information under entry requirements

English language requirements

You must have competence in English language and we normally require Grade C GCSE or an equivalent qualification. The most common English Language requirements for international students are IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL (paper based) 575 or TOEFL (internet based) 90 with specified minimum scores for each component. For details of other equivalent English language requirements that Middlesex accepts see international entry requirements

Applying

Applications for postgraduate study should be made directly to the university. You will need to fill in an application form and return it to the appropriate admissions office. UK and EU students should apply directly to the London office. Non-EU international students can apply to our international admissions office in London, or use our network of regional offices across the world to assist you with your application. Apply now

Fees & funding

The tuition fee for MSc Sustainable Development for the academic year 2012/13 is as follows:

UK/EU Students

Full-time students: £7,500
Part-time students: £63 per taught credit 

Find out about our flexible payment plans for UK/EU students, and how they can help you spread the cost of your course. 

International Students

Full-time students: £10,600
Part-time students: £93 per taught credit

Careers & placements

Graduates from this course have succeeded in finding employment in wide range of organizations including the business sector, consultancies, government ministries, non-governmental organisations (both local and international), education and other public sector agencies. Some examples are government official in a Ministry for Tourism in Africa, Project Director in an international NGO in Nicaragua and Head of Operations in an Environmental Business Consultancy in the UK. Some have also gone on to undertake PhDs and further research and academic careers in Higher Education in the UK.