Environment and Sustainability BSc (Hons) – 2024 entry

Can multinational businesses combine long-term sustainability with profitability? Will the transition to clean energy be defeated by a lack of suitable infrastructure and the policy to implement it?

Addressing the challenges facing sustainable development from an interdisciplinary perspective is a key focus of this BSc. First established in 1992, our acclaimed Centre for Environment and Sustainability (CES), where you will be studying, boasts an international reputation as a hub for interdisciplinary research in sustainability.

You’ll be taught by CES academics, who have experience in academia, industry and the public sector. Their research interests and industry experience includes:

• Clean energy and clean technology
• Consumption and production
• Corporate environmental behaviour
• Life cycle assessment
• Policy development
• Sociology of the environment
• Sustainable prosperity
• Vertical farming
• Water and sanitation.

In addition, you’ll be taught by tutors from other departments in the University who work at the interface between their core discipline and sustainability. Participating schools and departments include:

• Biosciences and Medicine
• Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Law
• Politics
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Surrey Business School.

You’ll also have the chance to take part in our award-winning Professional Training placements scheme, which prepares students for roles in various sectors.

This course will provide you with the interdisciplinary skills to tackle the challenges faced by individuals, companies and society in implementing sustainable development. In Year 1, you’ll be taught by CES academics, with modules focusing on core environmental science, climate change, environmental economics, sustainable development and research methods. There is also a residential fieldwork module focused on the sustainable regeneration of environments and communities.

In Years 2 and 3, the focus is on developing interdisciplinary perspectives and skills, so you’ll take a range of modules in other subject areas, including law, politics and psychology. You’ll also take modules taught by CES to continue to develop your core sustainability knowledge and research skills before undertaking a dissertation. For your dissertation you’ll conduct in-depth research into a specific environment or sustainability problem under the guidance of a dissertation supervisor.

The world is full of complex problems and standard university degree paths do not always prepare students well to tackle these problems. With modules drawn from across the University and core CES teaching staff from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds, this course will give you the skill set needed to tackle the complex sustainability challenges of the twenty-first century.

Modules listed are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Please note that modules may be subject to teaching availability, student demand and/or class size caps.

The University operates a credit framework for all taught programmes based on a 15-credit tariff. Modules usually can be either 15, 30, 45 or 60, 75 and 120 credits, and additionally for some masters dissertations, 90 credits.

The structure of our programmes follow clear educational aims that are tailored to each programme. These are all outlined in the programme specifications which include further details such as the learning outcomes.

Timetables

Course timetables are normally available one month before the start of the semester. Please note that while we make every effort to ensure that timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week (Monday – Friday). Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities. View our Code of practice for the scheduling of teaching and assessment (PDF).

Your teaching will be delivered through a combination of: 

• Field trips
• Group work
• Lectures
• Online learning
• Role plays
• Seminars
• Tutorials.

Outside of these, you’ll be expected to carry out independent study, including coursework, essays and reading.

There may be occasions when the delivery of your teaching is supported by graduate teaching assistants. The University has a set of procedures that govern the use of postgraduate research students in this way.

We use a variety of methods to assess you, including:

• Coursework
• Essays
• Examinations
• Presentations.

Contact hours can vary across our modules. Full details of the contact hours for each module are available from the University of Surrey's module catalogue. See the modules section for more information.