The vocational nature of our degree coupled with the Work Experience Placement gives our students a competitive advantage when applying for jobs. The statistics presented in this document support this argument and indicate that there are graduate grade environmental jobs available but applicants need to have the relevant skills and competencies which the employers want. In order to develop these skills you need to find a degree which delivers them. Too many environmental courses concentrate on conservation, landscape management and environmental management issues without developing the laboratory and practical skills to enable real scientific analysis to be undertaken. Jobs are available in such fields , but the number of graduates who have specialised in environmental management is very high.
Jobs are relatively few, competition is fierce and prospects for career progression are limited.
Far more employers actually want students who understand environmental processes, who can also monitor and analyse environmental samples using chemical and microbiological techniques and have hands-on experience of carrying out the relevant practical work themselves. Consequently we have strong strands of Biology, Microbiology, Soil Science, Chemical Sciences and Quantitative Techniques. The emphasis is on the acquisition and development of laboratory and fieldwork practical skills. Our course offers a well integrated, inter-disciplinary scientific approach to the study of the environment. It also offers the prospect of actually getting a job in environmental work which is stimulating, varied and with very good prospects of career progression.