Sustainability is most commonly defined as meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The field of Sustainability Studies explores and critiques ways to achieve it in the context of maintaining ecological and environmental health while generating economic welfare and ensuring social justice. The Sustainability Studies is an interdisciplinary programme which aims at fostering students’ understanding, appreciation, and thoughtful problem solving skills regarding the relationship and interactions between human society and the environment. The studies will provide the interdisciplinary background that is needed to understand many of the complex challenges facing our world, and will equip students with the skills needed to develop solutions to these problems.
Aim
The aim of Sustainability Studies is to ensure that the graduates of the programme know how to deal with the complex issues related to sustainability. During the 4-semester Master studies our students will be taught about sustainability from two complementary perspectives, i.e. scientific and humanistic. The former will help them to understand processes taking place in the natural environment, while the latter will provide them with the tools necessary for a holistic understanding of the natural environment as well for effective problem solving.
The curriculum is specially designed so as to enable students to experience interdisciplinary learning, extending over various fields of the humanities and natural sciences. Interdisciplinary learning provides students with an environment to develop their flexible thinking skills as well as the ability to think from a broader perspective – the two factors which are most important when considering the issues of sustainability and the environment.
Career
The graduates of Sustainability Studies’ are future leaders and highly qualified experts in sustainability. They are well prepared to work in:
- international business environment;
- staff/leadership sections of environmental organizations;
- local, state, national or international governmental agencies;
- non-governmental organizations;
- the R+D sector or the academia.
A growing importance of sustainable development is the main reason why we have created the programme which will deliver highly qualified experts capable of assuming the roles of leaders on the way to sustainability.