MSc in International Environmental Studies

This program concerns the environmental challenges of our time and seeks solutions that combine both natural and social science approaches. This degree qualifies students to contribute to international, sustainable development.

What can you use this qualification for?

Graduates can work in national and international agencies, ministries and environmental organizations. It also qualifies for jobs in development aid agencies, education, research institutions, media, consulting companies and international non-governmental organizations.

What will you learn?

Students will learn about causes and effects of global environmental problems related foremost to climate change, loss of biodiversity, desertification, water availability, and land degradation. The program provides an in-depth understanding of the interactions between social and natural processes through which global environmental change takes place, and how governance structures and power relations influence current trends.

Short description

The program is international in two ways: The curriculum covers topics that are relevant for many countries, and students on the program come from many different countries throughout the world. The program is interdisciplinary, consisting of courses that focus on both natural and social aspects of the environmental challenges of our time, and students with both natural and social science backgrounds may be accepted into the program.

Roles of international political bodies, national states and state policies, markets, and civil society are emphasized. Poverty alleviation and health issues are core aspects of sustainable development with strong links to environmental factors.

Learning outcomes

After completing this study program, students should have the following competencies:

Knowledge:

• A common understanding of socio-environmental relations and the drivers of environmental change.
• A critical ability to analyze complexity.
• Demonstrate knowledge of theories and knowledge of understanding concerning environmental change.

Skills:

• Utilize competence in planning and carrying out field research, project management, and development work. Critically assess new academic developments within the environmental studies field as well as policy directions.
• Carry out interdisciplinary analyses of environmental change and evaluate solutions related to socio-environmental relations in collaboration with colleagues from other academic fields.
• Use various understandings and methods of socio-environmental relations and drivers of change in fieldwork.
• Analyze new directions within social and natural sciences in understanding climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.
• Evaluate and use primary, secondary and tertiary sources of data in the elaboration of papers and specific arguments and with the correct use of references.
• Develop a critical perspective on power relations, ethical issues, and conflicts of values related to environmental change.

General competence:

• Plan and carry out independent research, develop innovative research questions and engage critically and informed in policy formulation and project development.
• Solve theoretical and methodological and project/policy problems independently.
• Apply insights and knowledge in new settings, such as development or environmental management, teaching or business. Engage in public debates, in media, in voluntary organizations, community meetings, popular dissemination and in meetings with policymakers.
• Contribute to developing solutions for environmental problems by bringing out strategic development and institutional issues, project collaboration and create and lead networks and centers.
• Building research teams and inter-personal communication across cultures and across academic fields.