E NHANCING A TTRACTIVENESS OF E NVIRONMENTAL A SSESSMENT AND M ANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION

EENHANCING NHANCING AATTRACTIVENESS OF TTRACTIVENESS OF EENVIRONMENTAL NVIRONMENTAL AASSESSMENT AND SSESSMENT AND MMANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATIONANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION

European EAM related higher education in Europe: European EAM related higher education in Europe: An overview of project findingsAn overview of project findings

Urmila Jha-ThakurConcluding Seminar in GrazConcluding Seminar in Graz

Graz University, 23.09.-24.09.2010Graz University, 23.09.-24.09.2010

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Outline of today’s presentation

• Methodology• Overview of Findings• Conclusions

Highlights EU EAM courses

Audience Response System

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EAM education in the EU

EAM education in S.E Asia

Internationalisation of EAM education

Internationalisation of Internationalisation of curriculumcurriculum

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Methodology

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• Based on the success of PENTA, the data collection for the TwoEA-M guidebook is mainly based on an internet-survey

• Initially, a total of 21 EU member states were surveyed and • these include the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, France, Sweden

Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovenia. 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).

MethodologyMethodology

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• Some degrees may be ‘combined degrees’-Joint-Multiple

• 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....

MethodologyMethodology

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No. Country Name Template No.

Headings Sub-categories

1 Academic Context Name of UniversityWeblinkDegree TitleEmphasis (EA or EM)Faculty/ School/Department

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4

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6 Programme Implementation Duration Programme StructureDelivery languageDelivery method & techniquesAssessment methodFocus (teaching/research)

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12 Programme requirements & Scope Geographical specialism Entry requirementsFees (Euro)Credit StructureCareer opportunities’

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141516

17 Remarks

MethodologyMethodology

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Findings

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• A total of 121 EAM related Master programmes were identified across the 27 (23....) EU countries covered in the survey.

• 109 programmes have been included in this guidebook.

• Professional degrees in Italy and Germany

• As a result of the Bologna process countries’ are experiencing a transitional phase with their educational structuring. 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.

Overview of FindingsOverview of FindingsEU & S.E Asian EU & S.E Asian

SurveySurvey

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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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Country-wise distribution of Streams within which EAM related degrees are offered

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Subject-wise distribution of EAM related Master level Degree Programmes

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Duration-wise distribution of EAM related programmes across Europe

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Survey Results...

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Country-wise participants of

interactive presentation

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Participants role within EAM higher education

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Emphasis of the higher education EAM related

degree programme

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Disciplinary preference of EAM related degrees

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Duration of EAM related programs

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Required adaptation of EAM to regional specific needs

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Completeness of EAM literature with relation to

regional needs

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Shortcomings of EAM teaching materials

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Urgent needs for EAM education

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Sources of Information for students aspiring to obtain

international degrees

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Relevance of European EAM education to S. East Asian

context

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Conclusions...

• No degree programmes have been identified in Cyprus, Luxembourg, Portugal and Romania.

• EAM education is clearly dominated within science faculty (EU & S E Asia) however, a more interdisciplinary approach is aspired to.

• Both in EU and S E Asia EA and EM are frequently taught together.

• Source of information used by students dominated by internet and published material and TwoEA-M contributes accordingly.

• Co-operative approach is needed to truly internationalise EAM curriculum with more inputs from S E Asian experts.

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THANK YOU!

Johor Workshop 23rd-24th March 2010

Tianjin Workshop 20th -21st March 2010

Seoul Workshop 30th Nov-1st December 2009

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• 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.

Conclusion and Limitations...

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Handbook Survey

• Part 1: EA related master programmes: experiences, current practice and prospects

• Part 2: Designing a common curriculum for EA related master programmes

• Part 3: Key sources for some key EA issues

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Part 1: EA related master programmes: experiences,

current practice and prospects

Chapter 2: Internationalisation of master degree programmes - reflecting on the European Bologna process (Urmila Jha-Thakur)

Chapter 3: Reassessing the direction of postgraduate environmental assessment education: The Manchester experience 1996 - present (Adam Barker and Carys Jones)

Chapter 4: Teaching environmental assessment in the context of postgraduate environmental courses – challenges for environmental postgraduate education and five mindsets forsustainability (Aleh Cherp)

Chapter 5: Existing EA-related master degree programmes in the EU: an analysis –concepts, Principles and key modules (Paola Gazzola) 

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Part 2: Designing a common curriculum for EA related master

programmes

• Chapter 6: Core Module 1 - Environmental Assessment (Paola Gazzola and Thomas Fischer)

• Chapter 7: Core Module 2 - Principles for Environmental Integration (Paola

Gazzola)

• Chapter 8: Core Module 3 - Environmental Management Systems (Urmila Jha-Thakur)

• Chapter 9: Core Module 4 – Ecological and Environmental Economics (Urmila Jha-Thakur)

• Chapter 10: Core Module 5 - Organisational behaviour and public decision making in the EA context (Paula Posas and Thomas Fischer)

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Part 3: Key sources for some key EA

issues

• Chapter 11: The importance of considering the specific cultural and social context when designing environmental assessment systems (Chiara Rosnati)

• Chapter 12: Environmental assessment effectiveness – What does it mean? (Francois Retief)

• Chapter 13: Scoping in environmental assessment (Thomas Fischer and John Phylip-Jones)

• Chapter 14: Relevant baseline data for use in SEA – examples from Germany (Alfred Herberg)

• Chapter 15: Environmental assessment as a participatory decision-making support tool – rationale and methods of participation in EA (Ralf Aschemann)

• Chapter 16: Report preparation and impact assessment methods and techniques (Ingrid Belcakova)

• Chapter 17: Mitigation and compensation in environmental assessment (Asha Rajvanshi)

• Chapter 18: The importance of EIA follow-up (Jos Arts)

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For the EA lecturers’ handbook, a total of 41 responses were collected through the

questionnaire survey, out of which 6 were from the Seoul

workshop, 19 from the Chinese workshop and 16 from the Malaysian workshop.

The questionnaire consisted of 7 questions related to the handbook .

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Questionnaire Feedback from Seoul Workshop

Rating of Relevance by the S. Korean workshop participants of the chapters in the EA Lecturers’ handbook

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Rating of the EA Lecturers’ Handbook Chapters by Chinese Delegates

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Rating of the EA Lecturers’ Handbook Chapters by Johor Workshop

Participants

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From a your country specific higher education perspective. What do you think

are a) the main problems with the handbook...

• Differences in the contextual background in terms of the planning systems, public participation and judicial systems need to be considered;

• Language is a barrier and hence the handbooks need translation; it was also highlighted that due to contextual differences, misinterpretation may occur during book translations;

• Lack of National case studies• A more technical and scientific approach was also

recommended. It was pointed out that the focus of the book was mainly on EIA and SEA and other tools like Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Health Impact Assessment (HIA) were not adequately represented.

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• Comprehensive and holistic approach to EA. • The interdisciplinary approach to EA was especially

appreciated. • One respondent said that the book does not fall into the trap

of taking the more conventional route of discussing the subject matter of EA through its different stages.

• Examples and references, including the reading list have been viewed as very useful material for teachers as well as students.

• The book is also said to have merit in providing guidance for curriculum development and research in the field of EA.

• Useful background to EA practice and education in Europe• provides for a good balance between social and technical

aspects of EA

From a your country specific higher education perspective. What do you think

are a) the main benefits with the handbook...