Environmental Studies

The Bachelor’s programme in Environmental Studies is open to graduates of all kinds of secondary schools, providing them with a broad overview of links between society and the natural world. The three-year day studies largely focus on protection of nature, landscape and the environment and its cultural, social, economic and political contexts.

The mission of the study program is to prepare university educated specialists to be capable of reflecting in their practice on environmental issues. Graduates of this field will be ready to work in a wide range of organizations communicating environmental issues, whether in a position of public administration, self-government, or non-governmental non-profit organizations.

The study program further supports students' interpersonal competences, i.e. their ability to collaborate in a team and to reflect on their activities.

The Bachelor’s courses explore connections between natural sciences, environmental science, geography, biology etc., social sciences (environmental economy, sociology, philosophy, history etc.) and the offer includes a wide range of courses with practical focus (business, environmental education, NGOs, landscape management etc.). Each student experiences over 80 hours of practice relating to the environment.

For the sake of clarity, the programme is organized in so-called blocks of study focus. The first block consists of compulsory subjects that every student has to pass. These are typically methodological subjects and subjects mediating fundamental insights into environmental issues (from the perspective of natural sciences as well as humanities). Another three blocks consist of compulsory options structured by their thematic focus, whose completion will provide the student with basic knowledge in the narrower field. They are the following:

A) Social-environmental business: specialization in business with goals other than making profit, whether in social, environmental or cultural domain. The primary focus is thus on practical skills useful in the world of business while at the same time surpassing this world through theoretical and critical insights.

B) Cultural environmental studies are designed for students interested in the roots and wider contexts of environmental issues. You will get unique fundamental cultural-historical knowledge which will provide you with a solid basis for continuing your studies in social sciences and humanities.

C) Civic activism and public administration is an integral study block for all who want to contribute to protecting natural environment in non-profit organizations, in state administration or through self-governing administrative bodies. The courses provide insights into the operation of environmental organizations and teach practical knowledge and skills such as project management, fundraising for non-profit organizations, cooperation in teams etc.

All of the three blocks (tracks) are optional; the main goal of the structure is to make the individual areas of research and teaching by the Department and its degree programmes more transparent.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• Explaining fundamental theoretical concepts characterizing the attitude of an individual and society towards environmental protection; students will be able to apply these concepts to specific dilemmas connected to environmental protection.
• Understanding principal environmental, biological and geographical contexts of environmental issues and explaining them clearly.
• Understanding the basic methodology of social environmental studies (in quantitative and qualitative research); students will be able to develop a basic design for sociological or social-psychological research of environmental issues.
• Interpreting environmentally oriented research papers; students will be able to assess their quality and explain their findings.
• Using competences associated with teamwork, critical thinking and analysis of one’s assumptions.
• Applying – through internships in selected organizations (typically NGOs, municipal or regional authorities, natural reserves, ministries) – experience with practical application of all of the above-listed knowledge students will have acquired.

Graduates of environmental studies typically find jobs in institutions where strictly technical or natural-scientific approaches to environmental issues do not suffice. They can work, for instance, for state administration bodies, natural protection institutions, natural reservations’ administration and environmental counselling (the common denominator of which jobs is understanding social contexts and necessity to communicate), in environmental education at all levels, in non-governmental environmental and civic organizations with professional ambitions etc.

The graduates can be attractive to their potential employers by their knowledge of the basics of natural-scientific contexts of environmental protection and their knowledge of the principles of their social contexts and of communicating environmental issues. They can also be attractive by knowing how to prepare, implement and explain clearly environmental research and understanding and being able to explain findings of previous research.

Internship of 80 hours is a compulsory component of the degree programme; students get 2 ECTS credits for this and the credits are awarded after the Internship Report has been submitted. The internships take place in bodies of state administration and local administration, and in non-governmental and private institutions whose activities are related to environmental issues. During the internship, the student gets acquainted with the nature of work and organization of the institution and its activities and/or selected projects. It is up to the student to choose the semester in which they want to do the internship. The Department has a list of institutions with which a long-term cooperation has been going on and where the internship can be accomplished. The list is being subject to updates.

The standard length of the Bachelor’s thesis is 10,000 – 17,000 words of the core text. The core text includes the body of the text including footnotes, without the bibliography, appendices, annotation and table of contents.

The guidelines for final state examinations and writing Bachelor’s theses are specified by the Code of Practice of the Faculty of Social Sciences no. 6/2019 On Final State Examinations for Students of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Masaryk University.

The student can choose his/her topic himself/herself, or they can choose from among the topics offered through the Information System. A topic selected in this latter way however has to be approved by the supervisor. Only teachers who are PhDs or have higher academic degrees can supervise theses. Apart from the core team of staff of the Department, supervisors can rank from among external experts, but this is subject to approval of the Head of the Department. Students are obliged to discuss their progress with the supervisor while working on the thesis.

The Bachelor’s thesis provides evidence of the student’s ability to research the topic in secondary literature, evaluate the texts found critically, use the existing theories concerning the topic and find through them or empirical research based on them answers to research questions.

The graduate of the Bachelor’s degree programme can carry on studying in any of the Master’s programmes offered by the Faculty of Social Studies (after they have complied with the entrance requirements). They are best prepared for the Master’s programme in Environmental Studies.