STUDY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AT HOME
This is an extremely flexible program, offering people with a background (prior study, or experience) an opportunity to obtain a formal qualification in this discipline
The course is comprised of two parts:
i. Three environmental modules/short courses (plus exams). The beauty of this course is that you can negotiate with one of our academic officers to select virtually any combination of relevant modules that are appropriate to your needs. Your selection might be made from modules such as "Professional Practice for Consulting", "Environmental Assessment", "Environmental Waste Management", "Wildlife Management", "Introduction to Ecology", "Statistics", "Botany I", "Botany II", "Water Conservation & Management", "Ornithology", "Vertebrate Zoology" or "Marine Studies I". Others may also be acceptable.
ii. A workplace project or relevant work experience equivalent to 200 hours.
Duration: 500 hours
For further information or to submit your list of modules, email info@acsedu.co.uk
Modules
Note that each module in the Qualification -Proficiency Award In Environmental Management is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.
Environmental Management is Necessary for a Sustainable Future
People around the world recognise the need to change the way we treat the environment if life is to be of good quality. In the past, environmental problems were managed only when they became serious or affected human health. This sometimes led to permanent and serous environmental harm. Adopting ecologically sustainable development (ESD) will help us look after the environment.
ESD can be defined as "using, conserving and enhancing the community's resources so that ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained, and the total quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased".
In 1987, The World Commission of Environment and Development also defined ESD in Our Common Future as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. In other words ESD means using the environment and its resources in a way that lets other people, including those not yet born, live productive and healthy lives, with relatively the same access to resources.
Under ESD, resources are not limited to minerals, food or energy sources. ESD includes natural resources such as air, water and soil, and social and cultural resources. If development is ecologically sustainable, natural resources and biological, cultural and social diversity will be maintained or improved.
A number of countries around the world are developing ESD policies. For example, in Australia, the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development stated the core objectives of ESD:
1. To enhance individual and community well-being and welfare by following a path of economic development that safeguards the welfare of future generations.
2. To provide for equity within and between generations.
3. To protect biological diversity and maintain essential ecological processes and life support systems.
Two other principles of ESD described in the National Strategy are:
• Incorporating ESD in decision-making: When any decision is made, it has to take into account environmental, social, economic and equity factors. The decision not only has to consider short-term effects, but also long-term effects. This is important because if a decision ignores any of these factors, or takes a short-term view, it may affect community wellbeing of cause environmental harm.
• The precautionary principle: If something might cause permanent damage to the environment, but there still is not enough information to be certain, then we should take action which will reduce the threat of damage to the environment. Lack of proof is not a good enough reason to avoid making a decision to reduce likely damage to the environment.
Sustainable Development is a global issue. In 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg. This summit was aimed at implementing agreements which were already in place between the 183 countries involved to ensure sustainable development was occurring now and in the future. The sustainability agreements covered areas such as Agriculture, Sustainable Use of Chemicals, Fisheries, Biodiversity, Ocean Protection and Sustainable Consumption and Production.
This was followed by a meeting convened by the IUCN in 2006 to discuss the issue of sustainability in the 21st Century. At this meeting, the representatives recognised three dimensions of sustainability – environmental, social and economic. In its 2005-8 programme, the IUCN adopted the notion that these three dimensions were interlocked with one another to demonstrate that the three objects require better integration and balance.
A framework for ESD can encompass these three dimensions in a way that
• Recognises the importance of ecological considerations
• Adopts a precautionary approach to assessing risks
• Ensures social equity in and between generations
• Cultivates a long-term global orientation
• Maximises efficiency of resource and energy use
• Encourages public participation in decision making.
Learning Facilities
ACS follows the old fashioned idea that “the student comes first”. Our staff are told to treat every student as an individual and respond promptly to their enquiries; and the facilities we have developed and continue to develop, are all focused on that goal. Facilities include:
- Offices in two time zones (UK and Australia) –which means an international team of academics are responding to students 5 days a week and 16 hours a day.
- An online student room with unique resources that are only available to students studying our courses, including online library.
- Bookshop offering quality downloadable e books
- A data base of 20 million words of unique information written by our staff over 3 decades that can be drawn upon if needed by academics for use in supporting our students.
- Systems that ensure assignments are tracked, marked and returned to students, fast -commonly within a round 1 week & rarely more than 2 weeks (note: many other colleges take longer).
- The school is active in social networking and encourages students to connect with us and each other.
- No automated handling of student phone enquiries. When you call you get a real person; or leave a message and a real person will call you back within a day, but more commonly within an hour or two.
- No additional charges for extra tutor support over the phone or email.
- Free careers advice for graduates –It is our policy to provide support and advice to our students even after they graduate. If a graduate needs help with getting a CV together, or advice on setting up a business or looking for work; they only need ask.
- The quality of academic staff is higher than many other colleges.
How our Courses Differ
- Courses are continually improved –we invite feedback from all graduates and change courses immediately the need is detected.
- Courses are relevant to the whole world –we try hard to teach make the learning transferable to any region or country because the world is increasingly a global economy
- Courses written by our staff, teach different skills to standard courses; giving a unique mix of skills and knowledge to provide a career advantage. Do you want an accredited certificate and the same skills as 100 other job applicants; or one of our courses with skills that no other applicants have?
- Certificates and diplomas are longer. They teach you more, and our qualifications have built a reputation amongst academics and industry as being a very high standard for this reason.
- We are focused on helping you learn in a way that improves your capacity to understand your discipline, apply knowledge, and continue learning and developing your capabilities beyond your course.
These things cannot be always said of other colleges.
Career Opportunities
Study alone can never guarantee career success; but a good education is an important starting point.
Success in a career depends upon many things. A course like this is an excellent starting point because it provides a foundation for continued learning, and the means of understanding and dealing with issues you encounter in the workplace.
When you have completed an ACS course, you will have not only learnt about the subject, but you will have been prompted to start networking with experts in the discipline and shown how to approach problems that confront you in this field.
This and every other industry in today’s world is developing in unforeseen ways; and while that is unsettling for anyone who wants to be guaranteed a particular job at the end of a particular course; for others, this rapidly changing career environment is offering new and exciting opportunities almost every month.
If you want to do the best that you can in this industry, you need to recognise that the opportunities that confront you at the end of a course, are probably different to anything that has even been thought of when you commence a course.
BOOKS
Visit our School bookshop at www.acsebook.com
- Downloadable ebooks that can be read on ipads, PC’s, Laptops, or readers like a Kindle.
- Titles are written by our principal and staff.
- Anyone can purchase books –ACS students are offered a student discount
