New Bachelor of Sustainability at JCU

Submitted by medwards on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 11:52

As one of only two universities in Australia to develop and deliver a dedicated Bachelor of Sustainability at the undergraduate level, JCU is helping to set the agenda and benchmarks for sustainability issues

There are three majors in our new Bachelor of Sustainability.

James Cook University's Bachelor of Sustainability offers students insights into the greatest challenges facing humanity.  The multidisciplinary approach of sustainability takes account of ecological, social and economic influences and provides the best prospect for understanding and tackling issues such as climate change, poverty, natural resources depletion and development.  Students choose elective studies to reflect their interests and career plans.

The primary aim of the program is to build capacity and encourage competence for sustainable development.  Students will emerge from the program with a holistic, trans-disciplinary vision of sustainability, but also be equipped with sufficient competency in a single discipline (e.g. Science, Business or Social Science) to allow specialisation.

The program will provide two strands or ‘cores’.  There will be a ‘sustainability core’ that will be made up of subjects that demonstrate the theoretical, philosophical and practical attributes of sustainability and a ‘disciplinary core’ comprising subjects from a disciplinary major (either science, or business or social sciences). 

Knowledge areas considered during the program will include:

  • Ecological interdependence (linking life systems with materials and economic cycles).
  • Relationships between social and ecological systems.
  • Most pressing global and Australian challenges to sustainability.
  • Historical perspectives and various definitions of sustainability.
  • Sustainability governance and policy.
  • Local-scale issues/concerns of local sustainability in relation to global-scale.
  • Valuation techniques for natural and cultural heritage.
  • Economic/social interdependency and trade relations (e.g. globalization).
  • Political power relations (e.g. local, national, global).
  • Social and political structures (e.g. political freedoms and human rights).
  • Equality and inequality in economic relations and debt.
  • Cultural rights including values and attitudes.
  • Value commitments (e.g. justice, equality).

Skills acquired during the program include:

  • Multi- and trans-disciplinarity
  • Critical and systematic thinking
  • Numeracy
  • Research methods (qualitative and quantitative)
  • Sustainability assessments procedures/techniques
  • Communication (written and verbal)
  • Teamwork
  • Strategic planning related to sustainability
  • Project management
  • Computer literacy and IT
  • Stakeholder engagement
  • Techniques and tools that support sustainability

 

Career opportunities include: policy makers, planning/research officers for government agencies, cultural and natural heritage management, environmental conservation, natural resource management, community development, commercial organisations, development organisations, non-government organisations 

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