Master of Science in Sustainable Development
Utrecht University
Key Information
Campus location
Utrecht, Netherlands
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
2 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 2,209 / per year **
Application deadline
Request info *
Earliest start date
Request info
* Non-EU/EEA students: 1 April
** EU/EEA, Surinam or Swiss students; €20,750: International students
Scholarships
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Introduction
Contribute to Sustainable Solutions
This two-year Master’s program is aimed at students who want to contribute to the design of the solutions needed to achieve an environmentally and socially accountable society. In this program, you will learn how to analyze the processes associated with change and will consider the short and long-term management of these processes on local and global levels.
Multidisciplinary Perspective
This program is suitable for candidates who want to study and solve societal sustainability issues from a multidisciplinary perspective. The program is of particular interest to students who are willing to broaden their perspectives through collaboration and interaction with students who bring to the program the knowledge of other natural and social science disciplines.
Specialize in one of four tracks
Following admission to this Master's program, you can choose one of four specialization tracks based on your interests in the field. As well as working in your chosen track, you will work in research teams with fellow students from the other tracks.
Program Outcome
Sustainable Development is the study of scientific solutions and societal interventions for an environmentally accountable society. This two-year Master’s program educates the scientists of the future. As a graduate of this program, you will be able to contribute to innovative environmental solutions and help build a sustainable society.
Curriculum
Tracks
The Sustainable Development program offers the following four tracks:
Energy and Materials
Energy and Materials is a multidisciplinary natural and social sciences track that focuses on the analysis of energy and materials systems. Current systems are clearly unsustainable as they have a significant negative impact on the environment and are based on finite resources. In the track, we study cleaner and renewable production options and more efficient consumption of energy and materials needed for sustainable development. The focus of the track is both global and local, with examples and topics on global, European, and national or provincial levels. There is limited focus on specific challenges in developing countries.
Please note that some track courses build on specific foreknowledge, notably concerning energy analysis and thermodynamics (consult the Study Guide for current students for more information). Students lacking this foreknowledge are responsible for acquiring this knowledge independently before entering such courses.
Environmental Change and Ecosystems
Environmental Change and Ecosystems is a multidisciplinary natural science track focusing on the interaction between humans and the physical and biotic environment. The track brings together the fields of physical geography, hydrology, (landscape) ecology, mathematics, physics, and chemistry. You will study changes in land use, the dispersal of substances (in water, soil, and air), and their impact on ecosystems, biodiversity, and remediation options.
Please note that some track courses build on specific foreknowledge, notably concerning mathematics and systems analysis (consult the Study Guide for current students for more information). Students lacking this foreknowledge are responsible for acquiring this knowledge independently before entering such courses.
Earth System Governance
Earth System Governance is a multidisciplinary social science track that deals with environmental issues and environmental policy. The track integrates knowledge from the fields of policy science, sociology, human geography, planning, economics, and law. You will study the strategies governments, businesses, and civil society develop and implement in their quest for sustainable development. Good governance means the ability to create organizational, procedural, and moral frameworks that have a positive impact on issues of sustainability related to climate change, production and consumption, biodiversity, water, and the urban environment.
International Development
International Development is a multidisciplinary social science track that focuses on how the need for improved living conditions for growing populations in the Global South can be reconciled with the need to preserve natural resources. This track combines practical experience, such as fieldwork and empirical research, with insights and concepts derived from sociology, geography, anthropology, and environmental studies.
Career Opportunities
The world needs people with comprehensive knowledge of environmental challenges. In this Master's program, you will become familiar with analytical and practical research skills, as well as strategies for intervention. This combination prepares you for a Ph.D. program or an academic-level position at consultancies, at research institutes, in government, in business, or at NGOs. Our graduates work as first-class researchers in the field of sustainable development in academic and professional organizations.
Career prospects are excellent: 90 percent of our graduates are in paid positions at an academic level. Students that graduated from this program have, for example, found jobs in one of the following places:
Trade and industry
- Shell Business customers
- RoyalHaskoningDHV
- Unilever
- Essent
- Waternet
- Vattenfall
- Triodos Bank
- Sweco
- Vitatron
- Genap
- Akzo Nobel
- Danone
Government services
- United Nations Environmental Programme
- Bureau for Traffic Enforcement of the Public Prosecution Service
- Rijnmond Environmental Service
- Transport and Water Management Inspectorate
- Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
- Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management
- District water boards
- Provincial government
- Municipalities
Education and research
- Universities
- Deltares
- TNO
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
- Energy research Centre of the Netherlands
- Secondary education
NGOs
- World Wildlife Fund
- North Sea Foundation
- The Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment
- Friends of the Earth Netherlands
- Dutch Nature Conservation Association
- Oxfam Novib