Ecosystem Management (B.Sc.)

Ecosystem Management (ÖSM) is an interdisciplinary degree course at the interface between natural conditions and human usage. The subject-specific and methodological contents take up the concept of sustainability and focus on the current and future tasks in society and on the labour market.

As a student, you will get to know the most important subject-specific and methodological principles of ecosystems and their management during the three-year course. You will learn about the fundamental issues and concepts related to ecology and will be given the tools for the protection and sustainable usage of terrestrial ecosystems with their resources. You can:

• recognize cause-and-effect relationships,
• make sound, professional judgements,
• develop planning concepts for nature and landscape management and
• work out solutions to conflicts in usage in the area of tension between ecological hazards and economic efficiency.

Characteristic of ÖSM is the broad spectrum of courses. You will not only sit in the lecture hall and listen to the lecturers or to your fellow students' presentations, you will also take excursions to get to know the flora, fauna and ecosystems in the field. You will do practical exercises outdoors, such as identifying rocks and mapping, or you will examine soil samples in the lab. Or you will learn how to capture, process, analyze and present geographical data with GIS.

In the fourth semester, you will choose between a work placement of at least three months and a semester abroad at one of our partner universities. Through the work placement, you can put the knowledge you have gained into practice in the corporate sector, administration or similar establishments, making initial contacts with the world of work. In the semester abroad, you can gain insight into the studies and teaching of foreign universities, broadening your cultural expertise and getting to know other ecosystems first-hand.

The semester for work placements or studying abroad and the wide range of compulsory elective and key skills modules offer you plenty of scope for individually shaping your studies in Ecosystem Management.

Having a Bachelor of Science in Ecosystem Management in itself qualifies you to start your professional career. Experience shows that natural scientists and graduates in environmental planning have considerably broader opportunities on the labour market with a master's degree. The Ecosystem Management course provides you with a good basis on which to commence a master's degree in the related subjects of Geoscience, Forest Sciences and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Göttingen or a master's with a similar focus at another university in Germany or abroad. Possible employers include administrative authorities at a national, regional and local level, non-governmental conservation and environmental organizations, private enterprise companies (industrial companies, consultancies, tourist and landscape planning offices, publishers, etc.) and scientific institutions, such as state universities and non-university research institutes.

With around 35-40 students per year, this degree course is, on the one hand, relatively small with a friendly atmosphere. On the other hand, however, it is supported by the three faculties of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, Agricultural Sciences, and Geoscience and Geography, which provide you with excellent points of contact. ÖSM was set up in 2008 and is still a fairly recent degree programme.

• Faculty of Geoscience and Geography
• Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
• Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology