Environmental Sciences – Soil, Water and Biodiversity

Programme structure

The MSc is offered by four partner universities (while at least two east European universities are ready to join in if the master is realised). The four current partner universities comprise:

• KVL - The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark
• UHOH - University of Hohenheim, Germany
• SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Science, Sweden
• BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Science Vienna, Austria

The full program has an extent of 120 ECTS and the program is constructed by 4 semester packages each with a work load of 30 ECTS (basic semester package/BSP, two advanced semester packages/ASPs and a thesis). During the MSc program all students will be studying at two different partner universities as a rule, and at least one ASP (30 ECTS) has to be followed outside the home university. The thesis work has to be assigned to one of the universities where an ASP has been taken.
When the student signs in for the MSc program, the student will be registered at the university chosen to start at, here called the home university. When the student leaves for another university to study for a semester or full year, he/she will be registered also at this second university, which is called the host university.

For practical reasons, we suggest that the first year (BSP + 1st ASP) of the MSc is carried out at one university. One year at the same university ensures that students get the best opportunities for integration and that they are not subjected to frequent shifts from one university to another which is costly and time consuming. In addition, if at least one year is spent abroad is strengthening the international dimension of the MSc. This is important, because it provides good opportunities to get into the learning environments in other countries and at other universities, and it broadens the perspective of the students and offers excellent opportunities to extend language skills and to establish networks. As an example a student who has taken his/her BSc at KVL could choose for example SLU as the home university of the MSc programme. After the first year the student could decide to return to KVL for the 2nd ASP or to go to any other of the partner universities. To carry out the first year at the same university offers time to get integrated and opens up for the possibility that not all BSP courses, which will all be tool-oriented, needs to be taken during the first semester. In this way the second half of the first semester can be exchanged with advanced courses of the 1st ASP. This leaves the student with better possibilities to set up a program for the first year with courses of choice.

The language of the master programme is English and hence all courses offered as well as group work and papers will be conducted in English. Engagement in local language courses during the study is encouraged as this encompass with the spirit of the international focus of the MSc. Students however need to have good language skills in English, which is included among the admission criteria.

Semester structure

The structure of the master is basically the same at the four different universities but as the different universities have different semester structures the exact semester layout will vary between universities.

A full study programme comprises the BSP (30 ECTS) including introduction- and summer-courses, two ASPs (2 x 30 ECTS) and thesis (30 ECTS). There will be an option for making the thesis 45 ECTS, by combining data/experimental work obtained during the 1st or 2nd ASP with the thesis work in the 4th semester. E.g. an experimental work could be carried out during the “elective courses” forming part of the 2nd ASP and this work could be used as part of the thesis. The opportunity to make an extended thesis based on substantial experimental work is important for those students who wish to continue with a Ph.D. after the MSc. For those students it is critical that the thesis work has an extent and quality that allows for international publication in peer-reviewed journals.

University 1

1st semester - Intro-week in August + e-learning in semester.
- European environmental law & administration - Compulsory or elective courses, Compulsory courses.

University 2

3rd semester - Compulsory courses, Elective courses

Univ. 1 or 2

4th semester - Thesis

The curriculum consists of the following components

• Basic semester package (BSP) including introduction course
• Advanced semester packages (ASP)
• Thesis (T)
• Summer field course (SFC)

Bewerbungsfrist: Wintersemester: 7. September 2009 bis 9. Oktober 2009 (Nachfrist bis 30. November 2009)
Sommersemester: 8. Februar 2010 bis 12. März 2010 (Nachfrist bis 30. April 2010)

Period 4 Semester.