Program Description
About the course
Working towards a sustainable, healthy future for people and the environment is a priority. Climate change scenarios indicate the urgent need to work towards this. The Environmental Science degree at Liverpool Hope is designed to give you the best possible opportunities to develop practical skills relevant to the workplace and to deal with the growing global concerns over the environment.The degree covers various aspects of Environmental Science through an investigation of environmental geosciences (geology, Earth materials, environmental resources and hazard management), biodiversity, ecology, aspects of environmental biology, and human/environment interactions. The degree also looks at environmental challenges such as habitat loss, climate change, resource management, and a range of other key environmental issues.Environmental Science prepares you to work individually and collectively towards an environmentally sustainable and socially conscious future. After completing the degree, you will have appropriate knowledge and understanding that makes you well suited to contributing to the solutions presented by the environmental challenges facing modern society.Liverpool is a great setting to study our BSc Environmental Science, due to having surroundings that include stunning upland and coastal landscapes of international conservation importance.A Placement Year option is available for this course. Undertaking a placement year as part of your degree programme offers you the opportunity to gain valuable work experience alongside your studies.
Course structure
Fieldwork and practical laboratory sessions are a significant part of this degree. Fieldwork destinations include local and regional sites of national and international conservation importance along with opportunities for international field trips. The course makes use of the university’s own field centre, Plas Caerdeon, set within Snowdonia National Park on the banks of the beautiful Mawddach estuary and overlooking Cader Idris National Nature Reserve.Fieldwork and practical sessions provide opportunities for you to engage with contemporary issues and improve employability through skill development, including the ability to use geographical information systems (GIS). Lectures teach the theories and concepts associated with Biogeography. Seminars are student-led sessions taught in smaller groups of around 20-25 students, while tutorials are tutor-led and typically have no more than 10 students. There are weekly opportunities to have one-to-one meetings with your tutors.Teaching on this degree is structured into lectures, where all students are taught together, seminars of smaller groups of around 20-25 students, and tutorials which typically have no more than 10 students. There are also a number of fieldtrips each year, as well as the opportunity to have a one-to-one meeting with your tutor each week.In your first year there are approximately 12 teaching hours each week, which changes to approximately 10 teaching hours in your second and third years as students grow in competence to conduct independent but supported study. In addition to these teaching hours, you are also expected to spend time studying independently each week, as well as engaging in group study to prepare for some group assessments.During your second year you will undertake a block of ‘experiential learning’. This is a block of independent learning that is practical in nature, the form of which you negotiate and agree with a supervising tutor. It can take the form of work-based learning, fieldwork or laboratory activities. It may be undertaken within the university or working with an external client such as an environmental consultancy, a planning authority or a non-governmental organisation
