Minor in Environmental Sustainability

Minor Programme in Environmental Sustainability New

A Minor programme offered by the Department of Biological Sciences. Launching AY2024/2025 Semester 1 for Cohorts AY2021/22 onwards.

    Urgent actions to tackle environmental issues are increasingly on global as well as Singapore’s national agenda, and the transition to a Green Economy has created a high demand for green skills. Two key challenges in the current undergraduate curriculum to address those needs are:

    – Building multi-disciplinary capabilities with depth as well as breadth.

    – Bridging theoretical knowledge to the fast-changing needs of the sustainability field.

    Environmental sustainability issues are multi-disciplinary, requiring a foundation in ecology for the management of natural resources and waste impacts on natural systems, along with skillsets and knowledge spanning other natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, finance, business, etc. for addressing sustainability issues. This Minor programme serves aims to fill a gap in the NUS undergraduate curriculum for sustainability knowledge and skillsets that bridge disciplinary domains. 

    To be awarded the Minor, the following requirements are to be fulfilled (for Cohorts AY2021/2022 onwards):

    1. Essential Courses – Pass all the following (Total 8 units)

      • ENV3206 Evaluating Sustainability (FoS/DBS)
      • GE3210 Natural Resources: Policy and Practice (FASS/GE)
     

    2. Elective Courses – Pass 3 of the following (Total 12 units)

    a. For students reading Life Sciences Major, please select not more than two among these courses: HSI2004, LSM2251, LSM3272, LSM4262.
    b.     For students reading Geography Major, please select not more than one among these courses: HSI2004, GE3254, GE3250, GE4232.
    c.     For students reading the BES programme, please select at least two from these courses: CM4282, ESE4406, FST3110, HSI2004, LSM4352, MKT3724.

      • CM4282 Energy Resources (FoS/Chem)
      • ENV3101 Environmental Challenges in Asia (FoS/DBS)
      • ESE2000 Chemistry for an Environmentally Sustainable Future (CDE/CEE)
      • ESE4406 Energy Systems and Climate Change Mitigation (CDE/CEE)
      • FST3110 Sustainable Food Packaging (FoS/FST)
      • GE3254 Energy Futures: Environment and Sustainability (FASS/GE)
      • GE3250 Nature and Society (FASS/GE)
      • GE4232 Global Political Ecology (FASS/GE)
      • HSI2004 Cell Based Proteins for a Sustainable Future (FoS/DBS)
      • LSM2251 Ecology and Environment (FoS/DBS)
      • LSM3272 Global Change Biology (FoS/DBS)
      • LSM4262 Tropical Conservation Biology (FoS/DBS)
      • LSM4352 Sustainable Urban Food Production for Food Security (FoS/DBS) [New course]
      • MKT3724 Sustainability Marketing (BIZ/Marketing)

    • Up to 8 units (i.e., two courses) may be double counted and used to meet (i) the Minor requirement and (ii) another requirement, e.g., General Education (only for students admitted from AY2021/2022 onwards), College (e.g., Common Curriculum), Faculty, Major, Second Major, Minor, Specialisation or other requirement, i.e., at least 12 units of the Minor must be distinct and not overlapping.

    Application

    This Minor Programme in Environmental Sustainability is an open Minor. Students are to ensure the pre-requisites are met when planning to read the courses meant for the Minor requirements. This Minor is offered to students of all disciplines from Cohorts AY2021/2022 onwards. The declaration to join the Minor should be made by the start of the fifth semester of the undergraduate candidature.

    Please refer to the Academic Plan Application/Declaration (APAD) website on declaring this Minor.

    For enquiry on Minor in Environmental Sustainability, you may contact the Programme Coordinator, Dr Chua Siew Chin siewchin@nus.edu.sg.