ENHANCING ATTRACTIVENESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION

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ENHANCING ATTRACTIVENESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION

• EAM related higher education in Europe
• An overview
• Thomas Fischer and Urmila Jha-Thakur
• IAIA, Geneva, April 2010

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THINKING BEHIND PROJECT

• Environmental Assessment and Management (EAM) is
  often perceived as being taught in similar ways
  throughout the world. This is opposite to
  subjects such as planning or policy making which
  have more of a country specific focus. As a
  consequence, EAM related higher education
  programmes are frequently assumed to have an
  international, rather than national, or local,
  appeal. However, contrary to this perception,
  there is currently very little evidence that this
  is indeed the case. The main aim of this seminar
  is therefore to identify similarities and
  possibly also differences in EAM related higher
  education in China and the EU.

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OVERALL RATIONALE

• A better understanding of EAM related higher
  education should ultimately help
• - prospective students to choose the right
  programme
• - universities / other teaching institutions to
  offer attractive programmes
• - public and private sectors to recruit suitable
  graduates
• - the economy and society at large to use
  resources efficiently, both, in terms of costs
  for higher education and in terms of delivering
  according to actual needs
• - the environment to be effectively managed and
  protected

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MAIN PROJECT OUTPUTS

• - creation of a TwoEA-M network (You)
• - setting up of a TwoEA-M webpage
  (www.twoeam-eu.net)
• - production of a handbook (guidebook) on EAM
  related higher education MA programmes in the
  EU
• - testing the international usefulness of EAM
  related higher education teaching materials
  produced during the PENTA project
  (www.penta-eu.net) eg EA Lecturers Handbook
• - Three East Asian conferences (South Korea,
  China, Malaysia)
• - production of a report on regional specific
  EAM interests and educational requirements
• - A main European final TwoEA-M conference
  (Austria)

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PROJECT DETAILS

• - 2-year European Commission funded project
  (December 2008-November 2010) follow-up to
  previous PENTA project (2005-2007)
• - 3 main European project partners (University
  of Liverpool, University of Bratislava, ANIDEA)
• - 4 East Asian partner institutions (Yonsei
  University, Tokyo Institute of Technology,
  Nankai University, University of Technology
  Malaysia)
• - wider TwoEA-M network members

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Methodology

• Based on experiences from PENTA, data collection
  for the TwoEA-M guidebook was mainly based on an
  internet-survey
• Initially, a total of 21 EU member states were
  surveyed. Later all EU member states included...
• Key phrases and words were chosen, including
  Masters
• Environmental Assessment and Management
  (country name) and Masters Environmental
  Assessment (country name).

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Methodology

• Some degrees may be combined degrees-Joint-Multi
  ple
• The main search engine used was Google and the
  searches made were across the web, as well as
  through country specific pages.
• Use of Templates to standardise the information
  collected
• Only 1 programme from each University has been
  included (Remarks)
• Information collected further complemented by
  country-specific contacts....

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Methodology
No. Country Name Template No. Country Name Template No.
Headings Sub-categories
1 Academic Context Name of University Weblink Degree Title Emphasis (EA or EM) Faculty/ School/Department
2 Name of University Weblink Degree Title Emphasis (EA or EM) Faculty/ School/Department
3 Name of University Weblink Degree Title Emphasis (EA or EM) Faculty/ School/Department
4 Name of University Weblink Degree Title Emphasis (EA or EM) Faculty/ School/Department
5 Name of University Weblink Degree Title Emphasis (EA or EM) Faculty/ School/Department
6 Programme Implementation Duration Programme Structure Delivery language Delivery method techniques Assessment method Focus (teaching/research)
7 Duration Programme Structure Delivery language Delivery method techniques Assessment method Focus (teaching/research)
8 Duration Programme Structure Delivery language Delivery method techniques Assessment method Focus (teaching/research)
9 Duration Programme Structure Delivery language Delivery method techniques Assessment method Focus (teaching/research)
10 Duration Programme Structure Delivery language Delivery method techniques Assessment method Focus (teaching/research)
11 Duration Programme Structure Delivery language Delivery method techniques Assessment method Focus (teaching/research)
12 Programme requirements Scope Geographical specialism Entry requirements Fees (Euro) Credit Structure Career opportunities
13 Geographical specialism Entry requirements Fees (Euro) Credit Structure Career opportunities
14 15 16 Geographical specialism Entry requirements Fees (Euro) Credit Structure Career opportunities
17 Remarks 17 Remarks 17 Remarks
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Overview of Findings

• A total of 115 EAM related Master programmes were
  identified across the 27 (23....)EU countries
  covered in the survey.
• 105 programmes have been included in this
  guidebook.
• Professional degrees in Italy and Spain
• As a result of the Bologna process countries are
  experiencing a transitional phase with their
  educational structuring. Therefore, it is
  possible that all such degrees which have not yet
  incorporated the 2nd tier may be left out in this
  survey of Master level degrees
• Quite a few programmes initially identified had
  to be deleted as they ceased to exist.

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Country-wise distribution of EAM related Master
programmes
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Main Focus of programmes Surveyed
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Subject areas-within which EAM related Degree
Programmes are offered
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Subject-wise distribution of EAM related Master
level Degree Programmes
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Most frequent words used in degree titles of EAM
related programmes across EU
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Country-wise distribution of Streams within
which EAM related degrees are offered
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Duration-wise distribution of EAM related
programmes across Europe
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Language-wise distribution of EAM related Master
Programmes
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Fees distribution of EAM related Master
Programmes across countries
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Conclusion and Limitations...

• No MA degree programmes have been identified in
  Cyprus, Luxembourg, Portugal and Romania.
• It was not always possible to find all relevant
  data in the same detail for each programme and
  information presented true at the time of the
  survey.
• Institutions which do not use the internet for
  advertising their programmes are left out.
  However, this should only apply to a very small
  percentage of programmes.

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Conclusion and Limitations...

• Only one programme per university has been
  included
• Information has been collected by several
  researchers and
• information was presented in different
  languages
• Each country and sometimes even university
  emphasises different aspects of their programmes
  which was not always comparable
• The heavy dominance of some countries over other
  may be due to the transition phase initiated by
  the Bologna process
• Only key findings have been presented here, more
  information is available on further request.

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Thank you!