Air quality in Europe has improved significantly over the past few decades for most pollutants, yet it remains the region’s largest environmental health risk, causing diseases, lowering quality of life, and leading to preventable deaths. In order to prevent the worst climate damages and reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the agreed timeline by the UN, global emissions of carbon dioxide need to fall by 45% by 2030. With only five years to go, this desperate rush to achieve net-zero emissions is in most companies’ vision. This is why employers these days seek professionals with a deep understanding and passion for keeping our planet green.
To hone your theoretical knowledge and practical skills, a master’s degree that emphasises sustainability in its curriculum would make you just the kind of candidates today’s top employers want and need. Whether it is in engineering, planning, development, or even business, a sustainability-centred degree will prove useful and beneficial, not only at a personal and professional level but also for humankind.
Aalborg University is ranked #4 in Times Higher Education’s University Impact Rankings. Source: Aalborg University
Aalborg University
Sustainability is at the core of an Aalborg University (AAU) education. Ranked #4 in Times Higher Education’s University Impact Rankings (a measure of how universities are performing against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), the Danish university aims to solve global sustainability challenges and ensure a greener future for future generations. From reduced energy consumption to sustainable construction and waste sorting, AAU educates tomorrow’s engineers and planners and trains them to prioritise renewable resources, life cycle analysis, circular economy, environmental impact assessment, and more.
Much of this take place at the Department of Sustainability and Planning, which covers the broad sense of sustainability in development and planning. From the social science aspects of development and physical planning, sector planning, and land management to more technical subjects such as road engineering, road safety, surveying, and mapping, the department offers programmes that represent a unique combination of social and technological understanding that will benefit future generations.
The Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning, Sustainable Cities, and Sustainable Design master’s programmes exemplify how AAU programmes are making a real difference. They address future transportation challenges, move towards positive change in developing cities, and innovate better product designs and tools – all powered by a comprehensive curricula that care about people and planet, as well as groundbreaking research.
All programmes here are problem-based, with the vast majority of projects placing you in the real world with real issues to investigate and improve. This trains you to become responsible problem solvers and leaders, the kind who can help build a better tomorrow.
Apply to the Department of Sustainability and Planning at AAU now.
14 programmes in KU Leuven are focused on sustainability. Source: KU Leuven/Facebook
KU Leuven
As one of Europe’s oldest universities, KU Leuven continues to push the boundaries of academia, providing hundreds of degree programmes from 15 faculties. Out of those degrees, 14 of them are focused on sustainability as you work on innovative research and go through a comprehensive curriculum which will give you the right theoretical knowledge and practical skills to keep our planet green.
Take the Master of Sustainable Development, for example. This programme trains you to imagine, trigger, and realise a sustainable future by completing courses covering different sustainability aspects, conducting individual research, taking up an internship or writing a thesis, as well as a field trip to the Global South. It offers two tracks: Space & Society and Ecology, both of which build on fundamental expertise to understand sustainable development using theory, methodology, and practical applications.
Besides courses and research, this Belgian university offers other forms of education that will enhance your understanding of sustainability. The MOOC Global Challenges for a Sustainable Society is one that explores current issues like climate change, hunger, and inequality and the different possibilities to move towards a better future. UnaVEx is another platform where you discuss the topic of sustainability with students from European and African universities.
So far, sustainability is included in programmes from 14 of the 31 academic University of Bristol schools. Source: University of Bristol/Facebook
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is one of the most popular and successful universities in the UK, even ranking in the top 10 according to the QS World University Rankings. One of the reasons why it ranks high is its dedication to sustainability, which is part of everything they do. From research to curricula, its buildings to the overall student experience; sustainability is at the core of the university’s existence.
Case in point, the university embedded discipline-relevant aspects of education for sustainable development into every degree programme available. So far, sustainability is included in programmes from 14 of the 31 academic schools here, namely the School of Physics, School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and School of Civil, Aerospace, and Design Engineering. And with industry demands for organisations to meet the United Nations’s SDGs, it is just a matter of time when all schools here offer a sustainable angle to their curriculum.
An example of a programme that is all about sustainability is the MSc Sustainable Engineering. Offering three pathways – Civil Engineering and the Built Environment, Renewable Energy, and Product Development and Advanced Manufacturing – this programme will provide you with the theoretical and practical knowledge to create and maintain a more sustainable world within your chosen area of engineering.
*Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International
