Environmental Management

Course Content (including module information)

Content Subject to Approval*

Stage 1

• Contemporary Issues in Urban and Rural Planning
• Dynamic Earth
• Environmental Change: Past, Present and Future
• Environmental Management
• Planning, Health and Well Being
• Processes and Principles of Physical Geography

Stage 2

• Environmental Assessment
• Geographical Research and Personal Development
• Introduction to Environmental Economics
• Landscapes and Geographical Information Systems

Optional:

One of the following for the Level 3 programme

• Planning Theory and Society
• Sustaining the Biosphere

One of the following:

• Work Placement (3-year Degree)
• 1-year Professional Studies (4-year Degree)

Stage 3

• Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Policies for Environmental Sustainability
• Spaces of Urbanisation in Emerging Economies and Sustainable Development

One of the following:

• Climate Change: Science, Scenarios and Impacts
• Infrastructure and Transportation Planning

One of the following:

• Environmental Management Dissertation
• Geography Dissertation

Assessment: The way in which students are assessed will vary according to the learning objectives of each module. Most modules are assessed through a combination of coursework and end of semester examinations. Some modules [e.g. final year Honours Project module (BBC3025)] are assessed solely through project work or written assignments. Details of how each module is assessed are shown in the Student Handbook which is provided to all students during their first year induction.

Feedback: As students progress through their course at Queen’s they will receive general and specific feedback about their work from a variety of sources including lecturers, module co-ordinators, placement supervisors, personal tutors, advisers of study and your peers. University students are expected to engage with reflective practice and to use this approach to improve the quality of their work. Feedback may be provided in a variety of forms including:

• Feedback provided via formal written comments and marks relating to work that students, as individuals or as part of a group, have submitted.
• Face to face comment. This may include occasions when students make use of the lecturers’ advertised “office hours” to help address a specific query.
• Placement employer comments or references.
• Online or emailed comment.
• General comments or question and answer opportunities at the end of a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
• Pre-submission advice regarding the standards you should aim for and common pitfalls to avoid. In some instances, this may be provided in the form of model answers or exemplars which students can review in their own time.
• Feedback and outcomes from practical classes.
• Comment and guidance provided by staff from specialist support services such as, Careers, Employability and Skills or the Learning Development Service.

Once students have reviewed their feedback, they are encouraged to identify and implement further improvements to the quality of their work.

At Queen’s, we aim to deliver a high quality learning environment that embeds intellectual curiosity, innovation and best practice in learning, teaching and student support to enable students to achieve their full academic potential.

On the BSc Environmental Management we do this by providing a range of learning experiences which enable our students to engage with subject experts, develop attributes and perspectives that will equip them for life and work in a global society and make use of innovative technologies and a world class library that enhances their development as independent, lifelong learners.

Examples of the opportunities provided for learning on this course are:

• Lectures: introduce basic information about new topics as a starting point for further self-directed private study/reading. Lectures also provide opportunities to ask questions, gain some feedback and advice on assessments (normally delivered in large groups to all year group peers).

• Seminars/tutorials: Significant amounts of teaching are carried out in small groups (typically 10-20 students). These provide significant opportunity for students to engage with academic staff who have specialist knowledge of the topic, to ask questions and to assess their own progress and understanding with the support of peers. Students should also expect to make presentations and other contributions to these groups.

• Self-directed study: This is an important part of life as a Queen’s student when important private reading, engagement with e-learning resources, reflection on feedback to date and assignment research and preparation work is carried out.

• E-Learning technologies: Information associated with lectures and assignments is often communicated via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Queen’s Online. A range of e-learning experiences are also embedded in the degree through, for example, online discussion forums, research methods modules involving statistics, additional learning resources, online readings, and opportunities to use IT programmes in project- based work.

• Supervised research: In final year, students will be expected to carry out a significant piece of research on a particular topic. They will receive support to guide them in terms of how to carry out their research and will be provided with feedback in person and via email.

• Personal Tutor: Undergraduates are allocated a Personal Tutor from their first day at the university. The Personal Tutor is available to meet with them and to give advice throughout their time at Queen’s, in support of their academic development and to act as an important point of contact with the School.

• Peer Mentoring:We offer a peer mentoring scheme for our BSc students, which sees specially- trained second and third year students, under the guidance of staff and the Centre for Educational Development, help first year students settle into life at Queen’s through social events, small group or one-to-one informal support and learning skills workshops.

• Work-Related learning/Field Trips/Study Tours: Study visits and field trips are integrated into several of our option modules. The purpose of these tours is to help students apply their learning to the real-work context and to exercise critical thinking and interpretation. Back in the classroom, students undertake a number of group-based tasks in workshops focused on the field trip and present their findings to classmates.

• Placement: For Environmental Management, all students are required to complete a compulsory 16-week work placement period as an integral component of Stage 2. For Environmental Management with Professional Studies, on completion of Stage 2, all students are required to undertake a compulsory 46-week period of work experience, including a project agreed between the student, the School and the employer. Placement is assessed within the module Professional Studies. Work placements take place in a wide range of organisations including Farrans, Northstone Quarries, CETA Waste Management, Ulster Wildlife Trust, DARD Countryside Management, Colin Glen, National Trust, Property developers, Property management companies, Environmental consultancies and Councils. Those students interested in teaching as a career may take part of their placement in a school. Work placement overseas is encouraged and students have worked in America, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and England.

Whilst the responsibility for securing work placements rests with the student, a dedicated School Careers Advisor supports students in attaining work placement. The students who have undertaken placement have been extremely well received by the employers, with all the placement organisations indicating they would want to take students in future years.

RICS Accreditation:The course is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. This means that after completing the BSc, a student can embrace the Chartered Surveyor profession upon completion of a two year training in a RICS related business and passing an exam. Students doing the BSc Environmental Management with Professional Studies can start the two year training during the 46 week work placement at the end of Level 2.