Bachelor Minors in Environmental Sciences

Anthropogenic climate change, natural degradation, and loss of biodiversity but also sustainable energy production, resource depletion, and waste disposal demand immediate action and governance. The management of these environmental challenges has already caused and will increasingly engender ethical concerns, dilemmas, and conflicts. The Bachelor Minor’s programs in Environmental Sciences complements the competences acquired in the main studies with special knowledge in the environmental sciences and humanities as well as in environmental ethics. It equips students with the competences for resolving governance challenges in the fields of the environment, sustainability and climate change. The unique knowledge accomplished in this bachelor minor is an integrative and comprehensive sensibilization on how to analyze environmental conflicts and to propose ethically sound solutions to environmental challenges.

• Profile and Specializations of the studies program

  The bachelor minor in environmental sciences is offered with three specializations: environmental sciences, environmental law, and applied environmental management. All minors comprise four basic courses introducing the different fields of environmental sciences, a compulsory elective program in the environmental humanities and ethics, excursions and an interfaculty elective program from all five faculties of the University of Fribourg.

  • Environmental Sciences (30 ECTS): Students acquire basic knowledge in all fields of the environmental sciences with a special focus on the environmental humanities and ethics.
  • Environmental Law (60 ECTS): Students dive into environmental law while gaining basic knowledge in all fields of the environmental sciences and especially in the environmental humanities and ethics.
  • Applied Environmental Management (60 ECTS): Beyond basic knowledge in all fields of the environmental sciences and a special focus on the environmental humanities and ethics, students acquire practical experiences in an internship.
• Structure of classes and lectures

  All bachelor minor specializations in environmental sciences have the following structure in common. The basic courses introduce the problems and approaches of the different disciplines relevant to the environmental sciences. They cover selected disciplines in natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities. Students successfully completing the basic courses deepen their competences within an elective program of compulsory courses in the environmental humanities and an elective program in all other disciplines relevant to the environmental sciences.

  The elective program in the environmental humanities consists of compulsory courses in the environmental humanities as well as in teaching units relevant to the environmental sciences, provided by the existing course program of the Universities of Fribourg and Bern. In all three minor specialization programs students participate in three excursions attached to the seminar “Focal Points of Sustainable Development”. Students attend courses of at least 2 ECTS each from at least two faculties of the University of Fribourg. Students choose their electives depending on their interests and specializations.

• Skills aquired

  In this bachelor minor program students complement their main studies with competences for detecting the ethical implications in environmental practice. In addition, students acquire introductory scientific, economic and legal knowledge concerning the environmental challenges of today. Studying at the multi-lingual University of Fribourg allows students to gain language competences in French and German.