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The International Environmental Policy Consultancy course is part of the Sustainable Development Diplomacy (SDD) track and can accommodate up to 24 students. Students who have been admitted to the SDD track have right of precedence. As this is a so-called Academic Master Cluster course, any vacancies are open to other students if they have successfully completed at least 24 credits of MSc-level courses or a first MSc-thesis.
This course is an innovative, collaborative, applied course and practical consultancy in environmental policy consultation at the global level. Linked via digital technology with students in a parallel course at SUNY, the State University of New York and or students from other universities, students in this course engage in a consultancy project with the Policy Analysis Branch of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development (UN-DSD) focusing on 'Assessing Sustainable Development for the UN Global Sustainable Development Report'. Together with their counterparts, students will fulfill the client's Terms of Reference, producing and delivering material in support of the new global Sustainable Development Goals.
Learning outcomes:
After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- apply their academic knowledge and general academic skills and attitude to a project dealing with a complex problem commissioned by a client outside the university;
- design solutions to an environmental issue;
- work and crossing boundaries as part of a multi-disciplinary and -cultural team (in three global regions);
- develop a project management plan, execute it and adjust it if circumstances make it necessary;
- reflect on aspects that are of importance for successfully executing a project;
- reflect on their own functioning and contribution to the execution of a project in terms of disciplinary knowledge, academic skills, group dynamics, and intercultural setting;
- communicate their findings orally and in writing to the client.
