MSc/PGDip Environmental Consultancy

• We normally require an honours degree of 2.2 or above in a geographical, environmental or scientific subject.
• We can consider applicants who do not meet the normal entry requirement, but who do have relevant professional experience or qualifications. In your application, you should describe in detail your professional experience and qualifications.

English Language Requirements:

• If English is not your first language, you will also need to demonstrate your English Language proficiency. For this course, in the British Council International English Language Test (IELTS) we normally require an overall score of 6.5 and not less than 6.5 in each component.

The full Master's course is comprised of 180 credits divided into three 60 credit stages: Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma and Masters. Students work incrementally through the three stages and must pass all modules at each one to progress to the next.

The course is flexible and therefore suitable for part time and full time students. You will select three optional modules, complete a three-month placement and undertake a dissertation. The key taught areas include business and environmental management, corporate social responsibility for business, and environmental law. The following core modules are indicative of the course structure:

• Environmental Business Skills - This module covers the key topics and skills needed for successful environmental consultancy practice management.
• Professional Practice in Environmental Sciences - You will complete at least 48 days of work/based learning in a placement at an environmental consultancy setting. This will give you an insight into the responsibilities of the profession and offer a real-world context to your learning.
• Dissertation (research project) - You will investigate, tackle and report on a specific issue in current environmental consultancy practice, with supervision from specialist subject tutors.

You will also choose three options from the following set of modules, the nature and content of which is in line with current and future trends in environmental consultancy:

• Sustainable Technologies allows you to look at technologies and the ways in which they can be implemented that potentially provide the basis for a fundamental re-shaping of how society works. This is especially looked at in the field of energy supply and use, through technologies such as biogas digesters, wind power, solar power and the opportunities for bio fuels and greater energy efficiency.
• Environmental Assessment will enable you to understand how to do an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) within the framework of current best practice, through hands on case studies. Related areas such as Strategic Environmental Assessment will also be explored to consider how to build sustainability into the whole development lifecycle.
• Introduction to Applied GIS introduces fundamental concepts related to GIS and its application, and develop the basic practical skills that are extended across the rest of the programme. The module covers the history of GIS, issues about GIS and society, an introduction to spatial data formats and a technical introduction to ArcGIS
• Water Management Challenges for the 21st Century will give you a better understanding of the role of freshwater resources and their management in the contemporary world. The module considers the major political, economic and policy issues facing water managers in two broadly conceived world regions: the Western capitalist world and the so-called "developing world".
• Catchment Hydrology will provide you with a good understanding of the components of the hydrological cycle, from precipitation through to interception, evaporation, infiltration into the soil and movement within the soil and groundwater zones, leading to runoff observed in rivers. The module will also equip you with the fundamental analytical skills of the hydrologist, including the preparation of flow duration curves, and calculation of flood frequencies. 
• Catchment Management provides an opportunity to apply your knowledge to the practical challenges in catchment management. Having selected a catchment near you, and on the basis of fieldwork and available spatial datasets, you will investigate and document catchment issues, problems, threats and assets. You will then formulate a catchment management plan to protect and enhance the assets and address the priority problems and threats in a structured manner.   
• Water Policy and Law provides an introduction to the legal framework and context within which water management operates.
• Sustainable Development: Principles and Practice explores the fundamental nature, causes and consequences of sustainable and unsustainable development. Practical exercises and projects give you first-hand experience of putting key concepts, frameworks and tools for implementing sustainable development into practice.
• Spatial Analytical Methods focuses on developing an understanding of the underlying principles and applications of different methods of GIS analysis. This module covers topics such as vector analytical methods, raster analysis and fuzzy logic, remote sensing, spatial statistics, network analysis and dealing with error and uncertainty in spatial analysis.
• Waste Management and Contaminated Land
• Air Quality Management