15 December 2006 Policy degree offers chance to 'do something constructive for world'

It's all very well having strong views about "green issues" and what should or shouldn't be done about the environment, then simply sounding off verbally whenever you've got a captive audience. The real deal, however, lies in helping to do something about it at the policy level.

Lincoln University's Master of Environmental Policy degree provides the grounding for doing precisely that. Policy development is about the formation of goals and objectives concerning our treatment of the Earth and its resources, and their implementation through a variety of means including rules, regulations and economic instruments. It's about analysing what governments do, or should do.

"Analysing, formulating and implementing policy gives you a sense of really doing something constructive for the world," says Lincoln University's Dr Ton Bührs, the Postgraduate Co-ordinator of the Environmental Management Group.

Perhaps you have just finished a science degree with an environment related major, or you have a social science or geography qualification or a degree in any other field, and you want to pursue a career in environmental management, policy or planning. Or maybe you have just come back from your OE and have a clear idea that you want to do something to help resolve environmental problems.

"Candidates for the Master of Environmental Policy degree typically come from a broad experiential background and represent a variety of age groups," says Dr Bührs.

"And when they graduate they typically go off to an equally wide range of jobs including government departments and ministries, local and regional councils, non-government organisations and private consultancies.

"Furthermore the employment market for Master of Environmental Policy graduates is buoyant. All of the 2006 graduates had jobs before the year was over and all are in relevant occupations, ranging across both the public sector, including the Ministry for the Environment, and the private sector."

The two-year degree provides students with analytical and professional skills that can be applied in a broad range of situations.

"We produce graduates who can organise and implement projects and we do that through providing our students with a mix of theory and applied papers," says Dr Bührs.

"Environmental issues are often complex with no easy solutions at hand. Addressing them effectively requires people who can work their way through the issues, together with others, and come up with better ways of dealing with them. That's what we prepare our postgraduates students to do."

For further information about Lincoln University's Master of Environmental Policy degree go to https://www.lincoln.ac.nz/study/study-programmes/programme-search/master-of-environmental-policy-and-management/

Ian Collins, Communications Group, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand

Dr Ton Bührs, the Postgraduate Co­ordinator of Lincoln University's Environmental Management Group.