Sustainable Development MSc

Program Overview

The MSc Sustainable Development program delves into the challenges and practices of sustainable development across environmental, social, and economic dimensions. It emphasizes interdisciplinary research, hands-on learning through field trips and guest speakers, and prepares graduates for careers in NGOs, consultancy, business, or the public sector.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This interdisciplinary MSc program explores environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges from local to global scales. It aims to enhance career and employment prospects by studying both the theory of sustainable development and its implementation in various contexts. The program examines international policies, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and specific policy areas such as climate change, energy, human health, wellbeing, and environmental governance. Students benefit from research-inspired teaching and access to outstanding facilities at the Penryn Campus in Cornwall, a living laboratory with diverse marine and terrestrial habitats, a wealth of natural resources, and creative and resilient communities.

Outline:

The MSc Sustainable Development program provides a unique opportunity to study sustainable development from a multi-disciplinary perspective, critical for understanding and tackling complex sustainability challenges. The program involves a practical and problem-based approach to learning, offering a grounding in the principles that underlie sustainability and their implementation in a range of professional and practical contexts.

Compulsory Modules:

• Contemporary debates about global environmental change, limited natural resources, and human wellbeing and inequalities.
• Skills to design and undertake independent research.

Optional Modules:

• Climate change
• Energy policy
• Health
• Heritage
• Environment

Assessment:

The program utilizes a variety of assessment techniques, including:

• Essays
• Presentations
• Project and group work
• Reflective essays
• Policy briefs
• Reports
• Dissertation
For the optional Independent Work-based Learning module, performance is also assessed by the partner organization.

Teaching:

• Expert staff who are active researchers in sustainability and environmental social science.
• Traditional forms of delivery (lectures, seminars, and tutorials) combined with practice-based learning including work placements, expert guest speakers, field trips, and linked project work.
• Training in research methods for sustainability.
• Opportunities to apply academic learning in real-world environmental contexts.

Careers:

The interdisciplinary and applied nature of the MSc Sustainable Development program equips graduates with a depth and breadth of knowledge, skills, and experiences that make them highly employable across a diverse range of careers. The degree offers high-quality social science research training and applied expertise which could lead to careers that focus on:

• NGOs and third sector: Project development, research, monitoring and evaluation of interventions, community support, and advocacy for policy change.
• Consultancy: Environmental management, climate change, and international development.
Roles include environmental and social impact assessments, independent research, and advisory roles.
• Business and sustainability: Sustainable development policy, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and responsible business management in various economic sectors.
• Public sector: Planning, resource management, and social development.
Opportunities include national government agencies and local authorities.

Other:

• The Penryn Campus is home to the University's Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) – a £30 million center leading cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research into solutions to problems of environmental change and enhancing people’s lives by improving their relationship with the environment.
• Researchers in CGES and ESI are also part of university-wide research networks such as Exeter Marine and Exeter Energy.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has seven contributors from the University of Exeter: more than any other university in the world.
• The program is part of Exeter's Graduate School of Environment & Sustainability - a vibrant and supportive postgraduate community based on the Penryn campus in Cornwall.
• The Graduate School brings together experts from across the spectrum of earth and life sciences, engineering, humanities, social sciences, and business.

UK fees per year:

£13,700 full-time; £6,850 part-time

International fees per year:

£27,500 full-time; £13,750 part-time