To access Environmental Sciences it is good to have a basic education in the basic scientific disciplines, such as biology, geology, chemistry, physics and mathematics, which will be broadened and supplemented with knowledge of the human, social and economic environment, as well as engineering, thus enabling you to obtain a comprehensive vision of the world today so you can find of the most suitable solutions to environmental problems.
If you study Environmental Sciences at the University of Girona, you will do field and laboratory work. This will be combined with data management, statistical processing and modelisation, as well as representing and interpreting this data through cartography. In that sense, Environmental Sciences students attain specific skills in very different areas, becoming very versatile professionals.
Learning objectives
The main objective of the Bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences is to train professionals with a broad, sound basis that allows them to study all the problems related to the environment and offer them tools for solving those problems.
Consequently, when you do this bachelor's degree, you will acquire basic skills for the labour market such as communicating orally and in writing in the scientific and professional spheres, analysing complex situations critically and designing creative and innovative strategies to solve them, and working in team, contributing to the development of specific or multidisciplinary projects. You will also attain specific environmental science skills, such as acquiring a multidisciplinary education that encompasses the scientific, technical, social, economic and legal aspects of the environment, cataloguing, managing and preserving natural resources and evaluating their exploitation in the context of sustainable development. Others include interpreting the effect of certain factors such as globalisation, migratory flows and environmental problems on the current situation the planet is on; evaluating the use of environmental technologies in developing sustainable management of water resources, waste and the energy; or creating and developing programmes for environmental education and communication.
Basic competences.
- CB-01. - Capacity for critically analysing complex situations, by collecting information and interpreting data, and designing creative and innovative strategies for solving them.
- CB-02. - Knowing how to communicate orally and in writing in scientific and professional spheres, using own languages and English.
- CB-03. - Working in a team, helping to prepare specific and multidisciplinary projects.
- CB-04. - Planning and assessing one's own activity and learning and elaborating strategies to improve them by applying quality criteria.
- CB-05. Capacity to act, generate proposals and take decisions in research and professional activity with ethical and sustainable criteria.
Specific competences
- CE-01.Applying scientific rationale and the scientific method (to gather and manage data in order to formulate and test hypotheses) to analyse and explain the discipline’s subject matter.
- CE-02. Using and applying the instrumentation and experimental methodologies typical of the discipline safely.
- CE-03. Using specific computer programs for complex data processing.
- CE-04. Acquiring a multidisciplinary education that encompasses the scientific, technical, social, economic and legal aspects of the environment for the suitable development of the profession.
- CE-05. Identifying the types and levels of organisation of living beings and being capable of identifying the more representative groups of organisations.
- CE-06. Identifying and describing biological cycles and functional adaptations to the environment.
- CE-07. Understanding the different organisational levels of the ecosystem and its components, the interaction between living beings and their environment and identifying the environmental problems associated with conserving ecosystems and preserving biodiversity.
- CE-08. Describing the structure, properties and reactivity of elements and compounds in the context of element cycles, as well as the impact pollutants have on the environment, and applying analysis techniques to determine that.
- CE-09. Formulating the economic and legal assessments of environmental problems.
- CE-10. Analysing the natural dynamics and the anthropic influence of geological, edaphic and water resources and processes so as to be able to respond to problems of a social, economic or environmental nature.
- CE-11. Cataloguing, managing and preserving natural resources, and evaluating their exploitation in the context of the sustainable development.
- CE-12. Interpreting the effect of certain factors (globalisation, migratory flows and environmental problems) on the current state of the planet.
- CE-13. Identifying and evaluating natural risks, such as floods, or seisms, and designing prevention plans.
- CE-14. Designing and applying environmental impact assessment studies and/or environmental indicators.
- CE-15. Evaluating environmental technologies to develop sustainable management of water resources, waste and/or energy.
- CE-16. Creating and developing environmental education and communication programmes.
- CE-17. Drawing up and planning the management and execution of work-related projects.
- CE-18. Integrating bachelor's degree knowledge in a professional and research environment, incorporating economic, legislative and managerial knowledge.
The organisation of the Bachelor’s degree.
The Bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences is organised over four years, during which you will acquire a sound academic education that will allow you to analyse professionally, from a multidisciplinary perspective, all the problems associated with the environment, and acquire skills in using the most innovative tools and technologies to manage them in a suitable way.
The first year includes the basic, essential scientific subject areas for analysing and processing scientific data, namely, the Foundations of Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Geology and Applied Statistics. You will also do a practical module called Integrated Scientific Techniques, which will allow you to develop the skills and competences associated with experimental work in the lab as well as in the field.
In the second year, you will study the Scientific Bases of the Natural Environment, a module that will teach you the fundamentals of nature through subjects like Zoology, Botany, Hydrogeology, Environmental Chemistry and Meteorology and Climatology. You will also do the Economic, Legal and Social Sciences model with subjects that will allow you to analyse the social dimension of the environmental problems, as well as the different policies, institutions and public administrations that manage environmental problems. Finally, you will broaden your knowledge and skills in Instrumental Subjects.
The third year will allow you to broaden and deepen your knowledge of environmental problems and managing them through the module Environmental Technology, where you will study more technical subjects such as Edaphology and Soil Pollution, Atmospheric Pollution, or Water Treatment. The module Environmental Management and Quality adopts a more social perspective with subjects like Environmental Education, Managing and Planning Resources and the Territory, and Geographic Information Systems, among others, while the module Environmental Ecological Bases adopts a biological perspective.
Finally, in your last year, you will be able to specialise by choosing two optional modules from the following: Aquatic Ecosystems, Biodiversity Management, Advanced Environmental Technology, Advanced Environmental Management, Conservation of Natural Resources and Social Aspects of the Environmental Sciences. To finish your studies you will have to do a bachelor's thesis, where you will be able to apply all the skills and competences you have learned during the bachelor's degree, as well as get an introduction to the labour market through the subject Projects and doing a work placement.
A double degree in Biology and Environmental Science is also offered.
University master’s degrees
The UdG offers an extensive master’s-degree programme. Master's degree courses offer advanced, specialised or multidisciplinary training, aimed at providing students with an academic or professional specialism or an introduction to research. These are official courses that enable students to move on to study for a doctoral degree.
Doctorate degree programmes
The doctoral studies are aimed at providing students with advanced training in research techniques and include the preparation and presentation of a doctoral thesis, consisting of original research work. To join a doctoral programme you need to have a minimum of between 60 and 120 ECTS credits at official university master's degree level or equivalent.
Postgraduate courses and specialisation
The University of Girona Foundation: Innovation and Training is the centre that plays host to and organises ongoing educational activities to meet the needs ongoing higher-level education. If offers own masters, postgraduate courses, specialization courses and other postgraduate activities covering all areas of knowledge.