Introduction to the School
All undergraduate teaching within the School takes place at the Coleraine campus, where BSc degree courses are offered in Environmental Science, Geography, Marine Science as well as an Associate Bachelor degree in Environmental Studies. The courses are offered at three levels: three year honours degree, four year honours degree as well as the Associate degree level in Environmental Studies only. An optional intercalary year of study abroad at a European university (or in Australia for Marine Science students) (Year 3) is also available and completion of the degree programmes is then in Year 4 (Diploma in Area Studies is awarded).
In addition, the School provides a geography component to the BA degree in Humanities Combined within the Faculty of Humanities, where geography may be read as a minor, joint or major component of the degree. Geography and Environmental Science may also be studied in combination with other subject areas including Education, American Studies and International Development.
Teaching in the School is provided by staff who are all active in research or curriculum development. Heavy emphasis is placed on practical work and fieldwork, and purpose-designed accommodation, including access to a full range of teaching laboratories, information technology (IT) and geographical information systems (GIS) facilities, open resources centre, drawing office and a photographic suite facilitates this work.
Residential field courses form an integral part of all degree courses and are provided at the start of the first year (to County Donegal) and for one week in the second year (in either Portugal, Spain or Tanzania in East Africa).
Student Support And Guidance
The School of Environmental Sciences offers comprehensive support to its students and prides itself on its student staff relationships. Considerable effort is invested in trying to achieve both academic engagement and social integration. There is clear recognition that transition to university education is a process that lasts much longer than the first few weeks of a university career.
All students are involved in induction activities prior to their registration on the course and throughout their university course. Induction takes the form of:
- Pre-entry Open Days
All students who have applied to any of the programmes within the School are invited to an Open Day. These are held in February and March of the year prior to entry and offer a tailored programme for both the students and their parents. This enables applicants to meet staff and students and for them to be able to gain additional information about the discipline, find out about some of the research being carried out within the School, establish the details of the course content and approaches to teaching, and confirm asking grades, details of finance, accommodation etc.
- First Year Induction Week
All students within the School of Environmental Sciences go through a week of induction activities in the first week of their first semester at the University. This involves a series of teaching and learning exercises, meetings with advisers of study, subject related library tours, computer practicals including registering for e-mail, and a two-day field course to Donegal. The purpose of the field course is both academic and social, and is designed to specifically engage the students with their subject, the staff who teach it (particularly those who teach in the first semester), and their student peers.
- First Year Tutorials
A series of weekly first year advisee tutorials are also part of the on-going induction process to the School, the course and the need to become an independent learner. Tutorials are held by advisors of study for their particular group of first year advisees but all follow a prescribed programme with a series of assessed pieces of work. The focus of the tutorials is very much on study skills and encouraging students to develop their ability to manage time, avoid the problems of plagiarism, adopt good academic habits of referencing and written and oral communication skills. Towards the end of 1st semester, students will also engage with Senior Student Tutors to enhance the quality of their learning experience and to prepare for examinations.
Professor Keith Day, Head of School
