Summary
Academic year 2024/2025

Degree-seeking students: apply

Regulations

The teaching regulations of the study course depend on the following organisational aspects: educational goals, access methods, study plan, exams, final exam, job opportunities, etc. Throughout their university career, students must refer to the teaching regulations enforced from their matriculation.

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Access to the programme

Open admission, subject to assessment of minimum requirements.
Quotas reserved for non-EU students residing abroad: 50 seats, of which 10 are reserved for Chinese students living in China, under the Marco Polo Project.

Admission requirements

To be admitted to this Master's Degree Programme students must possess a proper individual educational background and the minimum curricular requirements. A certified knowledge of English at minimum level B2 is also required.
Details about the assessment procedures are available in the webpage dedicated to admission requirements.

Admission with international qualification

Applicants with international qualification must have obtained a bachelor’s degree that is the result of at least 3 years of study. The preliminary evaluation of the qualification is mandatory. Procedures and deadlines are available on the dedicated online platform.
International qualification will be evaluated by the designated teaching committee after the pre-evaluation procedure carried out on the online platform.

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Course overview

Through a broad range of lectures and laboratories held both on the university campus and in the field, the course aims to produce professionals capable of intervening with multidisciplinary expertise in the prevention, diagnosis, evaluation, management and resolution of environmental problems - locally, internationally and globally - including by directly managing dedicated projects and holding managerial roles in research facilities operating in the environmental sector.

1. The course programme (in Italian) in Monitoring and Remediation of the Environment prepares cultural and professional profiles mainly oriented towards the monitoring of pollutants and contamination, the assessment of their impact on human health, organisms and ecosystems, as well as providing specific expertise on the technological processes used to restore and reclaim degraded environments and to reuse the waste from human activities from a circular economy perspective.
2. The course programme (in Italian) in Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services prepares cultural and professional profiles mainly oriented towards the physical and economic analysis of both biotic and abiotic renewable resources, or “natural capital”, and of the goods and services that terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems offer to man. In addition, the curriculum aims to provide the tools to evaluate and mitigate environmental impact and perform correct habitat conservation and restoration actions.
3. The course programme (in English) in Global Change and Sustainability prepares cultural and professional profiles mainly oriented towards the analysis of major changes on a global scale, with particular reference to climate change. The programme combines bio-ecological, oceanographic, climatological, paleo-climatic, socio-economic aspects and statistical analysis and environmental modelling tools, providing an integrated interpretation of the reality of the global changes taking place during the current geological age. This approach provides graduates with the tools to outline future scenarios of change and plan correct actions to mitigate the impacts.

Curricula available

• Monitoring and Remediation of the Environment (in Italian)
• Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services (in Italian)
• Global Change and Sustainability (fully taught in English)

Double and Joint Degrees

Ca' Foscari University of Venice offers international educational programmes designed in collaboration with one or more partner universities, entailing the attendance of part of the study path abroad. At the conclusion of these programmes, selected students obtain a Double Degree (a diploma from Ca' Foscari and one issued by the partner university) or a Joint Degree (single degree jointly awarded by the member universities of the consortium delivering the programme), depending on the provisions of the agreements with the partner universities and the different national regulations.

Double and Joint Degrees available: 

• Joint Master's Degree in Sustainable Development with Karl-Franzens Universität Graz (Austria), Leipzig University (Germany), Utrecht University (Netherlands), Basel University (Switzerland), Hiroshima University (Japan).
  Partner universities are also Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and Teri University (India).
  Access: call for applications.

Examination assessment and graduation

Learning activities comprise taught courses, workshop-based projects and training/internships so that students can acquire a broad range of competencies, both theoretical and practical, that are transferable to the world of work, as well as life-long learning skills.

Learning outcomes are continuously assessed by means of written exams, oral exams, assignments, project reports, presentations, and group as well as student-teacher discussions.

The final test consists of preparing a degree thesis, under the guidance of a supervisor, on an environmental topic and presenting it before an examination board made up of university professors and experts.
The thesis must be an original work and must be experimental, interdisciplinary and make an original contribution to the development of knowledge on the environment.
The supervisor may choose one or more co-supervisors, even from outside the University, to assist him/her and promote the interdisciplinary nature of the research.

Access to further studies

Professional Master’s Programmes (1st level and 2nd level) and PhD programmes.

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Occupational profiles

Graduates in Environmental Sciences can be employed in both the public and private sectors with professional roles in the prevention, diagnosis, evaluation, management and resolution of environmental problems.
In the private sector, Master’s graduates in Environmental Sciences can fulfil organisational, assessment, operational and managerial duties, even working as freelancers (with enrolment on the Professional Registers Section A as Doctor of Agronomy and Doctor of Forestry, Architect (Landscape Sector), Biologist and Geologist, subject to passing the state exam (Pres. Decree no. 328 of 05/06/2001, Art. 12, 17, 32, 42), for all problems that may involve interaction between the production activities and environmental systems.
In the public sector, they can support administrations in the evaluation and management of complex systems and environmental situations.

Professional profiles:

• Employees and freelancers in the private and public sphere in the evaluation of the quality of the environment, environmental recovery and environmental conservation and education
• Expert in the analysis and control of the pollutants and bioremediation and in the management and control of treatment plants for wastewater, solid waste and gaseous emissions
• Expert in the evaluation, mitigation and awareness of global and climate changes.

Master’s graduates in Environmental Sciences can find employment in:

• Private companies, or as a freelancers, in the evaluation and management of complex environmental systems and situations;
• Various industries (chemical, mining, agri-food, biotechnology, manufacturing);
• International agencies, national and regional authorities for the protection of the environment;
• Agencies, private companies, public bodies and self-employment in the promotion actions of mitigation, dissemination and awareness of global climate change;
• Public entities (EU, Ministries, Regional and Municipal Authorities and other entities operating on the territory);
• Companies providing services and consulting for territorial and environmental management;
• Analysis laboratories;
• Healthcare organizations;
• Universities and public and private research institutions at both national and international level.