The Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy is a center of excellence for environment -related scholarship and teaching in Europe, offering a comprehensive curriculum in environmental studies for intellectually advanced and ambitious graduate students. Our programs challenge students' ability to integrate theory and practice for the analysis, understanding, and management of environmental and environment-related problems.
The department has educated several hundred young people from over 30 countries who are now working in academia, international organizations, governments, NGOs and businesses around the world. The foundations for our educational activities are laid in the 1-year MS Program in Environmental Sciences and Policy, established in 1994. A new 2-year Master's program - the Master's in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management (MESPOM) - was added in 2005 to build on strategic collaboration with other leading European universities and to expand the reach of our education globally. The MESPOM course is supported within the Erasmus Mundus program of the European Commission. The Ph.D. program introduced in 2002 delivers quality research training and enhances the research profile of the department. In addition to their academic work, all students are encouraged to develop professionally relevant social and communication skills, and orient themselves in the pan-European and global networks of environmental institutions and movements.
The department is committed to fostering an open intellectual environment in which ideas can be examined and debated critically and rigorously. We view the environment as an arena which challenges accepted notions of progress, human limits, and the "good society", and consequently as an arena in which creativity, leadership, and a commitment to good global citizenship are required in order to make a difference. Year after year we strive to improve our ability to meet these commitments and fulfill our mission by adapting our programs to new knowledge and lessons learned from our previous experience.