Study Guide

Description

Since 2000, the Degree Programme in Environmental Engineering has trained professionals for the anthropocene with sustainability mindset and with the whole world as their workplace. Our focus areas are water and wastewater treatment, sustainable sanitation, material and resource efficiency, environmental remediation and consultation. Our aim is to provide students with these professional and working life skills in the field of environmental engineering and the working life skills needed in professional life.

VISION AND VALUES

The global environmental change and need for more sustainable use of natural resources has created an ever-increasing demand for environmental professionals with complex problem-solving skills. Designing and planning new processes, products and services that are regenerative and restorative by design, require taking the principles of circular economy into account on every step to keep the humanity within the planetary boundaries. Technical skills together with management capabilities are needed when solving global environmental issues, but we also need life-cycle thinking to be able to understand the consequences of our actions, whether they take place in urban or natural environments.
Innovative and forward-looking mindset plays a central role in the degree programme. Studying in an international community and atmosphere will give you unique possibilities to develop your communication and team working skills, and skills for acting in different working environments. You will also have a great chance to grow your network with experts all around the world.

WHY ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING?

Global markets and increasing demand for resources in the form of products and services, translates into a need for environmental experts. To become an environmental engineer requires skills and understanding many different fields. In addition to engineering and natural sciences, team working, problem-solving and communication skills are emphasized. Environmental engineers can work as consultants or in some other task of an expert in private companies, public services or NGO sector.
Typical areas of practice for environmental engineers are environmental restoration, water and wastewater treatment, waste treatment, material and resource efficiency and air and noise pollution control. Many environmental engineers work also in managerial positions, where the versatility of the training is a real asset.

ANNUAL THEMES

First Year
During the first year, the students create a strong foundation for understanding the structure and function of the industrial and natural environments. The emphasis is on natural sciences and developing of environmental thinking in engineering. The students start to develop their academic skills through report writing and strengthening their communication skills. After completing the studies of the first study year, students will have basic knowledge in natural sciences as well as engineering subjects, which include basics of environmental technology and management, soil science and engineering, ecology and environmental monitoring .

Second Year
During the first half of the second year, the students continue building the foundation for professional studies by studying natural sciences. After the foundation is built, the studies will focus more and more on professional topics and the students will also gain working life skills with different engineering and management practices. The subjects include sustainable industrial production, professional software tools, environmental management, waste, water and wastewater management and engineering. After completing the studies on the second year, students have competence to assist as supervised in environmental monitoring projects, engineering industry, management and administration. The students are also expected to have completed the first part of their practical training.

Third and fourth year
During the last two academic years, the students deepen their environmental engineering skills and get competences in project management, risk management and other practical engineering tasks. The students are encouraged to design their individual professional paths by offering a possibility to choose courses that support the students’ interests. The students will also start to prepare for their final theses as they are cumulating their working life skills through practical training. The students are expected to have completed the remaining second and third part of their practical training during the third and fourth year.

The themes of the third and fourth year are to advance the students' competences through selected study modules and prepare them for challenges in working life. The studies concentrate on questions like how to keep products and materials in use and how waste and pollution can be avoided through better design. Other subjects include infrastructure design and development, water and wastewater treatment and contaminated site remediation. The focus is on promoting lifecycle thinking and the principles of circular economy.

After completing the studies, the students have competences to work as a team member in environmental monitoring, management projects and various other duties in environmental engineering industry, public services, and private and NGO sectors. The students will also have competences to work in international jobs, on fields such as environmental monitoring and remediation, design and planning of sustainable and resource efficient products, services and processes.

Curriculum development and working life cooperation

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND WORKING LIFE COOPERATION

The Curriculum complies with the European and National Higher Education Qualification Frameworks (Bachelor of Engineering, EQF 6).

The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC), has granted the EUR-ACE quality label for our degree programme. The label is valid until 14.6.2020. EUR-ACE is the European quality label for engineering degree programmes.

Our Curriculum is continuously developed in close collaboration with the working life. The Degree Programme has its own Advisory Board with working life and student representatives as its members. The study content is continuously revised to stay up to date with the working life requirements and changes in the field. New learning methods, especially project studies, working life skills and up-to-date environmental technology, are essential parts of the Curriculum.

Further information

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

See www-pages and applicability for Bachelor's Degree Programmes at www.tuni.fi. More information about the Degree Programme can be found at https://www.tuni.fi/en/study-with-us/environmental-engineering.

An essential part of the curriculum is to integrate the learning of general working life skills, international, innovation and ethical competences and learning skills to the studies. In order to strengthen the integration of foreign students, multilingual course implementations in advanced studies are implemented in order to develop the Finnish language skills.