Global Sustainability Solutions

Entry requirements

All applicants are considered individually on merit although we usually require a 2:1 honours degree.

No specific subjects are required.

The programme has been designed to allow students from a wide range of backgrounds to immerse themselves in a transformative educational experience. No science, mathematics, or engineering prerequisites are required.

Months of entry

September

Course content

• If you are passionate about creating a more sustainable world, join us on your journey by addressing global sustainability challenges and exploring solutions to these in a wide variety of environments and contexts.
• You will learn together with students from different disciplines and backgrounds to apply your different perspectives, insights and passions to begin to understand and address the very real challenges facing our planet.
• Explore how systems thinking can be applied to a range of social, economic and environmental issues and begin to understand the interconnections and behaviours of different systems.
• This is a dynamic and exciting programme where your coursework assessments will not be limited to essays, you will also be creating films, press briefings, presentations, reports, and policy briefs whilst learning to communicate to a wide range of audiences and enhancing your employability.
• We offer immersive learning experiences which provide an opportunity for interactive learning of fundamental skills and approaches to understanding and solving challenges.
• You have the opportunity to undertake a work placement as part of a module, and a research project within an organisation as an alternative to a traditional academic dissertation.
• Your learning is underpinned by the latest research undertaken by world-leading scholars and the Global Systems Institute community.
• Upon graduation, you will have the skills to become an agent of change for a sustainable future in whichever career path you choose.

Our impacts on the Earth system are at such a scale that we have become a geological force. If we are to not just survive but to flourish, we urgently need to create robust and practical solutions to a set of interacting and complex global challenges.

These challenges span countries, regions, and academic disciplines. For example: the challenge to establish food, water, and energy security for a global population increasing towards nine billion by the middle of this century; the urgent need to halt the rapid decline in biodiversity; or the required decrease of greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid dangerous climate change. While diverse, the common thread that links these and other challenges is that these are all ultimately a challenge of systems.

The programme addresses global sustainability challenges, equipping you to apply systems thinking to solve complex problems in a wide variety of environments and contexts and develop a deeper understanding of the interface between science, policy and practice. Additionally, you can tailor the programme to meet your areas of interest and passion by choosing 30 credits of optional modules.

You can choose to focus your dissertation (Solutions Project) on a piece of original academic research or take the opportunity to apply your learning to a real-world sustainability problem in an internship with an external organisation. To assist you we advertise projects connected with our external partners or internal research projects, and you can also choose to follow your own passions or ideas and reach out to potential companies or academics. We provide support and resources to help whichever path you choose.

Information for international students

For full information, including English language requirements and international equivalencies, please visit our website.

International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile B2. Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.

Fees and funding

We invest heavily in scholarships for talented prospective Masters students. This is in addition to the UK Government’s Postgraduate Loan Scheme. For information on how you can fund your postgraduate degree at the University of Exeter, please visit the postgraduate study pages on our website.