Monash University Handbook 2010 Postgraduate - Course

This course is designed to meet the needs of graduates from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds who wish to enhance their qualifications for careers in environmental policy and analysis, planning, consulting, education, advocacy and management. It is also designed for those who wish to broaden and deepen their understanding and experience to enable societal and individual change and responsible action to support sustainability. Its comprehensive set of core units provides knowledge and skills to critically analyse problems of environment and sustainability and to propose realistic solutions in both personal and professional settings. Research projects and internships give students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary real-world contexts and to combine theory and practice in responding to local and global issues at individual, community, corporate and government levels. Electives cater for a wide range of specialised needs and interests.

Students successfully completing this course will have:

• a sound knowledge of diverse aspects of the academic discipline
• an understanding of the world view of the field of study
• a critical appreciation of the secondary literature in the field of study
• a familiarity with many of the key texts and cultural products pertaining to the field of study
• advanced reading and communication skills, both written and verbal
• advanced analytical skills
• a grasp of research methodology and ethics, and an ability to undertake a small, independent research project in one of the disciplines represented in the program.

This course consists of core units and electives and for those who qualify, either an internship or a research project. Students complete a maximum of 48 points of level four units and a minimum of 24 points of level five units. All units are worth six points unless otherwise indicated.

Core units

Students complete the following core units at either level four or five (24-36 points):

• ENV4020/ENV5020 Perspectives on environment and sustainability
• ENV4040/ENV5040 Frontiers in sustainability and environment
• ENV4030/ENV5030 Environmental analysis*
• ENV4050/ENV5050 Environmental governance and citizenship*

* One or both of these units should be taken at level five.

plus a final project, consisting of one of the following:*

• ENV533E Environmental internship (12 points)
• GYM5480 Research project (12 points)**
• GYM5490 Major research project (24 points)**

* GYM5490 may be taken in a single semester, or over two consecutive semesters (GYM5490 (A) and GYM5490 (B)). In order to undertake a final project students must gain a distinction average or above in the core and elective units, and/or permission of the course coordinator. For students who have not attained a distinction average, an additional 12 points of coursework electives may be substituted.

** Students undertaking this unit should complete one of the research methodology units below.

Elective units

Students complete electives sufficient to bring the total number of points for the degree to 72 credit points. If a student has not previously studied ecology, economics and law, one or more electives in these areas must be studied and must be chosen in consultation with the course coordinator before enrolment:

• BTX9100 Sustainability regulation
• ENV414F/ENV514F Ecological systems and management or GES4890 Earth systems: From biogeochemical cycles to global change
• ECF9530 Economics or ENV4060 Prosperity, poverty and sustainability

Other electives may be chosen from across the University and, if no equivalent is available at Monash, from other universities. If required, electives may be chosen from level three offerings, but only to a maximum of 12 points. Suggested electives are outlined below.

Working in the corporate and public sectors

• COM4010 Communications, convergence and public policy
• ECC3640 Economics of climate change
• ECF9210 Introduction to international economics
• ENV4371 Stakeholder engagement and corporate environmental sustainability
• ENV4372 Strategic Management for corporate environmental sustainability
• ENV437E/537E Corporate sustainability management
• ENV441E/541E Sustainability measurement
• ENV520E Environmental economics and policy
• MGX5030 Corporate social responsibility
• MGX5030 Corporate social responsibility
• MGX5760 International institutions and organisations
• MGX5770 Business and government
• MGX9230 Public policy
• MGX9270 Public management
• MGX9720 Managing organisational change
• SYM5065 Issues in public policy

Communities and development

• ANY3230 Culture and conflict in Indonesia
• ANY3350 Questions of identity: Ethnicity, nationalism and globalisation
• ANY3480 The Third World
• ANY3530 Modernities in the making: Indigenous peoples and colonial cultures
• ASM4230 Culture and conflict in Indonesia
• ASM4430 The Third World
• ASM4440 Asia and the West
• GYM4330 Field studies in regional sustainability*
• GYM4520 Social spaces and urban justice
• GYM4750 Sharing prosperity: Geographies of work, regional development and economy
• IDA4120 Community development in a globalising world
• IDA4140 Urbanisation and regional development in the Indo-Pacific Rims
• IDA4230 Research in political ecology
• IDA4320 Doctrines of development
• IDA5040 Special topics in international development
• IDA5130 Environmental revolutions
• IDA5220 The art and business of international development
• INT3015 Production, consumerism and the environment in the contemporary world

Tourism

• ATM4020 Ecotourism management
• ATM4060 Contemporary issues in tourism
• ATM4120 Sustainable tourism development and planning
• ATM5070 International tourism marketing
• GES3220 Tourism and the environment
• GYM4260 Cultural landscape, environment and sustainability in Italy*

Environmental thinking and philosophies

• CLS3055 Nature, culture and colonisation
• CLS3820 Earthworks: Literature and environment
• HSY4180 Images of the natural world: Issues in environmental history
• IDA5130 Environmental revolutions
• PHL3810 Environmental ethics
• PLT3990 Politics of environmentalism
• PLT4709 Green political theory
• RLM4110/RLM5110 Sustainability and the sacred

Environmental law

• BTX9100 Sustainability regulation
• BTX5100 Corporate environmental responsibility
• BTX5130 International law and policy
• LAW4115 Environmental law
• LAW4175 Current issues in international environmental protection
• LAW5136 International environmental law
• LAW7414 Planning and environmental law practice

Geographic information systems

• GYM4070 Remote sensing of the environment
• GYM4610 Geographical information systems (GIS) for social science applications*
• GYM4920 Geographical information systems (GIS) for environmental science*

Global change, environmental management and citizenship

• AUS4010/5010 Exploring Australia: Diverse people, diverse lives
• CHM3960 Environmental chemistry
• CIV4261 Integrated urban water management
• CIV5261 Flood management in urban and rural environments*
• CIV5264 Management of urban water resources and related infrastructure*
• CIV5314 Transport planning and policy*
• CIV5316 Fundamentals of urban public transport*
• ENE3048 Energy and the environment
• ENE4607 Environmental risk assessment
• ENV3022 Environmental technology
• GES3340 Cities and sustainability
• GYM4260 Cultural landscape, environment and sustainability in Italy*
• GYM4350 Resource evaluation and management
• GYM4370 Urban climate, water and sustainability
• HSY3850 The Australian city: Contemporary problems in historical perspective

Research methodology

• GYM4420 Researching human environments
• SCY3261 Social research methods

One of these units is recommended for students taking GYM5480 Research project or GYM5490 Major research project.

* Units offered in flexible mode (distance, on-line and/or intensive).

Students may apply to exit after successful completion of:

• 24 points with a Graduate Certificate in Arts
• 48 points with course 0095 Graduate Diploma in Environment and Sustainability.

Master of Environment and Sustainability

Some students may be eligible to obtain a second master degree in environmental science by studying for a further six months in Hungary at the Central European University. For further details email Bianca.Roggenbucke@arts.monash.edu.au.