Environmental Sciences BSc(Hons)

Course in brief

Environmental Sciences at Brighton is an interdisciplinary and flexible degree programme drawing from subjects including geography, ecology and chemistry to address a subject that is relevant to us all: the environment.

You will develop environmental scientific skills and knowledge, alongside transferable academic and scientific skills through classroom, laboratory and project work, along with field trips. The course allows a great deal of freedom to tailor the syllabus to your personal and career interests. Modules are organised into four themes to focus your studies as you progress through the course.

As a Brighton student, you will benefit from the wonderful landscapes that our region has to offer, including the chalk hills of the South Downs National Park. But we also offer overseas field trips to Greece, and Sicily or South Africa allowing you to explore environments besides our own.

This course is accredited by the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES). Students are eligible for free membership of IES, providing the opportunity to be a part of a long-established and reputable environmental science professional body.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Moulsecoomb

UCAS code F901

Full-time 3 years
With placement year 4 years

Accredited by the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES)

Applying for 2015?

Read our personal statement top tips, and find out how we take personal experience and potential into account when we make our offers. Find out more...

Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course and should be used as a general guide. We operate a flexible admissions policy – this means that you could receive a lower conditional offer than the typical offer, informed by our assessment of your complementary non-academic achievements and experiences. For any courses that require interview or portfolio review, this may also be considered in the level of any conditional offer that follows if your application is successful.

A-levels
BBB. Must include a relevant science.

BTEC
DDM.

International Baccalaureate
30 points, specified subjects.

Access to HE Diploma
pass with 60 credits overall. Level 3 units in geography or environmental studies and science required. At least 45 credits at level 3, with 18 credits at merit or above.

GCSE (minimum grade C)
at least three subjects including English language and mathematics or a science.

Foundation degree/HND/HNC
may enable you to start the course in year 2.

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.0 overall, with 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

International equivalencies

International equivalencies by country

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We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visit our language institute |

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College |

For academic preparation courses

Course in detail

Course structure

Our Environmental Sciences degree is characterised by its flexibility. Core modules, which all students take, provide a solid foundation of essential knowledge alongside optional modules which you choose according to your personal and career interests.

From year 2, modules are organised into themes:

environmental management and sustainability
environmental hazards
ecology and conservation
environmental pollution.

You will choose modules from three themes in year 2, and a minimum of two themes in your final year. Or you can choose modules from across all four themes.

Whichever subjects you decide to study, you will develop subject-specific and transferable skills, including:

class-based skills (independent learning, debating, presenting, developing an argument)
laboratory skills (analytical techniques, such as for soil quality, water quality and pollution)
field skills (applying environmental techniques, devising surveys, monitoring, sampling).

Year 1

In year 1, core modules introduce the fundamentals of environmental science giving you a firm foundation on which to build your degree. You will also choose two option modules, allowing you to begin exploring the breadth of subjects available.

First year fieldwork takes place in Greece, where you examine ecology, environmental management and hazards.

Core modules

Data Presentation and Analysis for Geoscientists
Ecological Processes
Fundamentals of Physical Geography
Global Environmental Issues and Management
Introduction to Environmental Chemistry
Introduction to Environmental Hazards
Introduction to Fieldwork
Skills for Independent Learning

Options

Ancient Societies
Archaeological Practice
Citizenship for the Environment
Ecological Processes
Elements of Chemistry
Evolutionary Biology
French, German or Spanish language modules
Fundamentals of Geology
Habitat Ecology
Human Physiology
Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks
Interpreting Geological Maps
Mathematical Skills for Scientists
Mineralogy and Petrology
Physiological Ecology
The Global Earth System
The Ocean Planet: an introduction
Water in the Environment

Year 2

Year 2 core modules enable you to explore the mathematical and research skills at the heart of environmental science. From this point, option modules are divided into professional themes, and you choose from at least three of the themes. This allows you a considerable degree of choice in the subjects that you study, while ensuring that you develop a broad range of skills relevant to working within environmental science.

Other options that are not included in the themes further widen your choice.

For field work, you can either go to Sicily, where you study geomorphology, vegetation and pollution, or South Africa, where you focus on wildlife conservation and management.

Core modules

Advanced Data Analysis
Geography fieldwork, Sicily (or South Africa as a specialist option)
Skills for Research and Careers

Options

Environmental management and sustainability

Alternative and Renewable Energy
Contemporary Rural Geography
Environmental and Spatial Planning
Environmental Conservation and Management
Geographies of Everyday Life
Geoinformatic Systems
Introduction to Remote Sensing
Sustainable Development

Environmental hazards

Climate Change
Coastal and Aeolian Landscapes
Environmental Hazards
Ice Age Earth
Water in the Landscape

Ecology and conservation

Behavioural and Evolutionary Ecology
Ecological Techniques
Evolution and Diversity
Introduction to Marine Biology and Ecology

Environmental pollution

Environmental Pollution and Control
Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry
Soil and Water Analysis

Other options

Applied Palaeontology
Archaeological Practice 2: excavation and post-excavation
Community Engagement: theory into practice
Earth Resources
French, German or Spanish language modules
Fundamentals of Environmental Microbiology
Geoarchaeology
Independent study module
Introduction to Environmental Geochemistry
Sedimentology
Societies of Early Europe

Placement year

The placement year is a great opportunity to:

put your new skills into action in a real-life work place
build knowledge of businesses and organisations
develop existing skills and discover new ones
make contacts in industry and commerce
increase your confidence
improve your time management.

In recent years, our students have been successful in competing for nationally advertised positions with the Department for Energy and Climate Change, Transport for London, the Field Studies Council and the Office of National Statistics.

Other students have secured placements with environmental firms and consultancies, a multi-national telecommunications company and a renewable energy research centre in Spain.

You will return to your final year of study with new knowledge and skills to inform your final year studies, and your final year dissertation. You may even return to the university with an offer of a job after graduation.

Final year

Your final year at university is a chance to specialise even further and target your studies towards your chosen career.

The dissertation is a major piece of research on an environmental sciences question. The topic is your choice. It could be about a subject that you have enjoyed studying, and could be informed by activities undertaken on placement.

Options make up the rest of the year. You can specialise even further by choosing modules from at least two of the themes, or maintain a broad exploration of topics from across the whole range available.

Core module

Ecology or independent dissertation

Options

Environmental management and sustainability

Air Quality Management
Applied Remote Sensing
Environmental Assessment
Geographies of Sport and Leisure
Geoinformatic Systems
Independent study module
Medical Geography
Political Ecology
Waste Management
Wetland Environments

Environmental hazards

Coastal Environments
Environmental Change in Low Latitudes
Freshwater Processes and Ecosystems
Geohazards

Ecology and conservation

Applied Ecology
Biogeography
Biology Field Skills
Geoinformatic Systems
Molecular Ecology
Plant and Animal Interactions
Wetland Environments

Environmental pollution

Advanced Analytical Methodology
Air Quality Management
Case Studies in Environmental Pollution
Independent study module
Water and Health

Other options

Archaeological Heritage
Cold Environments: Process and Landsystems
Community Engagement: theory into practice
Evolution and the Fossil Record
French, German or Spanish language modules
Humans and the Environment
Hydrogeology
Independent study module
Oceanography
Planetary Geology
Recording and Interpreting Archaeological Finds

Why Brighton?

Innovative and relevant
The School of Environment and Technology has attracted over £7million of external research income in the last three years. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise confirmed that 90 per cent of research submitted by the school was of international standing.

A leading professional university
Our courses host field trips both in the UK and overseas, giving you the opportunity to apply the theories that you have learned in class. Present destinations include Greece, North Africa, Sicily, Cyprus and South Africa.

Career-focused
We are one of only a few universities to ensure that students have a career-planning agreement in place at the start of their course. We will help you to develop the professional and transferable skills required for future career success.

Excellence in support and teaching
All of our courses are taught by a team of dedicated, friendly and approachable staff. To help you to settle into university life, we provide a skills-based module to give you advice and feedback in the first year and assign you a personal tutor for the duration of your studies. This is supported by pathway guidance from your course leader and general support from school-based Student Support and Guidance Tutors (SSGTs).

Facilities fit for the future
You will have access to professional-standard laboratories and facilities that support our teaching, research and consultancy in geology, hydraulics, physical geography, and environmental and public health.

Outstanding location
We are based in Brighton, a buzzing coastal city that adds an extra dimension to the university experience. Lying between the English Channel and the rolling chalk hills of the South Downs, Brighton offers many interesting and unique local sites of study.

Careers and employability

Environmentally aware graduates are increasingly in demand, with relevant roles available in nature conservation, recycling and waste management, environmental planning, consultancy, management, geoinformatic systems and academia.

Recent graduates have found roles in organisations such as GIS consultancies, Low Carbon Europe, the Environment Agency, Southern Water and local authorities. Some have secured research studentships to undertake further study, and others have gone on to work for their placement year employers.

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (Full-time) 9,000 GBP

International (Full-time) 13,500 GBP

If you choose to take the professional placement (sandwich) year offered on this course you will pay a reduced fee during this year. Our fee for the professional placement year is £1,000 for home students and £2,000 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2015–16. Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, field trips or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Visits and contacts tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee paying status.

All field trips are included in the course fee, except the South Africa expedition,which incurs an additional cost of around £800. Exact costs can be requested from the course team.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

A cosmopolitan city famed for its nightlife, bohemian atmosphere and beautiful surroundings, Brighton is a great place to be a student.

Whether you prefer the natural delights of the sea and South Downs or the bustle of the North Laine shopping district, there are fantastic events throughout the year that reflect the huge amount of character – both historic and modern – that the city possesses.

Brighton is host to three university campuses: Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb and Falmer. Grand Parade is in the centre of town, while Moulsecoomb and Falmer are just ten minutes away by bus or by train.

Social scene – Most students head into the lively centre of Brighton for its mix of bars, pubs, clubs, theatres, comedy houses and live music venues. In the summer the seafront buzzes with activities and impromptu BBQs and picnics on the beach.

The Shakedown Festival brings big names to one of the last major festivals in the UK music calendar. The Great Escape meanwhile has been firmly established as the leading event for showcasing new music, with over 300 bands playing 30 venues across the city over three days.

Arts – Brighton hosts England’s biggest arts festival in May each year, and has a selection of highly regarded theatres, galleries and events, not to mention the quirky Royal Pavilion which has become a symbol of the city's eccentricities.

The Brighton Festival is now the largest arts festival in England, and is one of the major milestones in the international cultural calendar. The Brighton Fringe is one of the largest fringe festivals in the world.

Find out more about Brighton

Campus information

Moulsecoomb campus

Two miles north of Brighton city centre and the seafront, Moulsecoomb is the largest of our five campuses with over 8,000 students.

Over 160 students live on campus in Moulsecoomb halls, while others live in nearby Varley Park.

The campus has excellent sports facilities including:

a sports hall with basketball and badminton courts,
fitness suite with gym,
an indoor climbing wall.

There are a number of areas of Brighton that are popular with students just a short walk, cycle or bus ride away. These include Moulsecoomb, Bevendean, Hollingbury, Elm Grove, Hanover and other suburbs that stretch up the hills on either side of the Lewes Road.

Find out more about living in Brighton |

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Moulsecoomb campus map

Unistats

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats is an organisation that collects specific data about university courses in the UK which enables you to compare information that is important in your decision-making when choosing a university. All universities publish Unistats data on their online course pages.

Wherever we can we have provided extra information here to help put the data into context so that it is as useful as possible when you are making decisions.

Programme specification

Programme specifications are the official university documents that describe each course in detail. They reflect the course as it is being taught to students who started their course in this academic year. They are updated every summer, and give a very detailed breakdown of what your course might look like.

Programme specification

Visits and contacts

Find out more

School of Environment and Technology
01273 642288
entec@brighton.ac.uk

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Student views

Zsófia Ugróczky

"My time at the University of Brighton has given me many new skills and qualities, including a broad insight into all aspects of environmental issues. This year, I had the opportunity to volunteer for an environmental organisation, where I applied my knowledge of soil contamination and environmental policy.

"The variety of different subjects that are offered within the course enabled me to develop new skills that I never imagined. Support from the staff and my personal tutor helped me make the right decisions about my choice of modules and my final dissertation.

"I have gained self-confidence and made many new and good friends that I will keep for life, and I am now planning to continue studying towards my MSc degree at the University of Brighton."