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BSc Environmental Science

Start date
September
Duration
3 years
UCAS code
F900
Course Type
Undergraduate, Single Honours
Fees
Annual tuition fees for 2025/26:
£9,535 (UK)
£28,130 Fee Band 3a (International Students - 2025-26)
More detail

Our Environmental Science programmes, built around our impressive research record, will allow you to develop an in-depth understanding of the Earth’s most complex environmental problems. We will give you the knowledge and skills you need to help resolve the world’s most pressing problems in a sustainable way.

The Environmental Science BSc degree is designed around three key themes – understanding environmental processes and systems; investigating changes and impacts; and enabling their prediction and mitigation.

This programme has been designed to provide choice and flexibility whilst ensuring that you develop appropriate skills with a sound scientific foundation. The course includes both core modules taken by all Environmental Science students, and selected optional modules which allow you to concentrate on themes which are of particular interest to you.

IES logo thumbnailThere is a growing need for graduates with a strong scientific background but who are also able to apply their knowledge to environmental management and protection globally. Our programmes in Environmental Science are accredited by the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES).

Placement Years

One option on this degree programme is to undertake a Placement Year, which provides you with an opportunity to work with an external organisation for a year, gaining valuable experience and skills that prepare you for your future career. The placement can be with any organisation which allows you to get experience in a sector related to your degree or outside your main discipline.  For example, students have completed placements with finance companies, the Highways Agency, environmental charities, travel companies and food manufacurers. With this option, your degree at graduation would be “with a Placement Year”. You don’t have to decide this route at the application stage, but it is an option that you can transfer onto once you are a student here. You will be responsible for sourcing your placement but we will provide support through the Placement Tutor and Careers Network. Your placement would take place after the second year of your degree, and you would then return for the final year at Birmingham. The placement forms part of your degree programme, and includes an assignment that contributes to your overall degree result.  The placement year is normally charged at 20% of the normal tuition fee for home students and 50% for non-home students.

The course is completely relevant to the working world at the moment. Everything in business is about being sustainable and cost-efficient, so that nothing is wasted.

Josephine Durdin, BSc Environmental Science

Why study this course?

There are many reasons to study Environmental Science BSc at Birmingham: 

  • Accreditation – Our programmes are accredited by the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) highlighting our academic excellence and our programmes’ professional relevance and applicability to the workplace.
  • Fieldwork – Recent destinations have included the Peak District, Berlin, Bala, Switzerland. The costs of travel and accommodation on all compulsory field courses will be covered by the University.
  • Facilities – State-of-the-art laboratories including an ‘eco lab’ for the study of river systems, and our Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) facility forest/tree research.
  • Research projects - we have extensive links with industry including Public Health England, the Environment Agency and the Wildlife Trusts. These links provide opportunities for our students’ individual research projects.
  • Research - The latest Research Excellence Framework (REF) results rank research at the University of Birmingham as 3rd* in the UK for ‘Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences’.

 

Modules

We are committed to continual improvement of our programmes and to ensuring we respond to the changing needs of the world and our student body. As such we are in the process of updating our year one curriculum for this course (to be launched in 2025-26). These changes have developed with student and staff consultation and have research-based teaching at their core. Our core programme outcomes will not change, but module structures in year one will. More information will be available before the Summer 2024 open days.  

Below you can find the current year one structure to give you a sense of what you will learn.

First year

Compulsory modules

Second year

Compulsory modules

Optional modules - Example optional modules may include:

Third year

Compulsory modules

  • Research Paper

Optional modules - Example optional modules may include:

 

Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. Unless indicated otherwise, the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2024. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules after that date; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.

Fees

Standard Home student fees 2025-26

The University will charge the maximum approved tuition fee per year. If your offer is for 2025 year of entry, we expect that the tuition fee for your first year of study will be £9,535. If Parliament agrees on an increase in tuition fees, the University will increase fees for each year of study normally in line with these changes and will communicate any change in the fees to you without delay. If you are applying for 2026 year of entry, you will be advised of the annual tuition fee closer to the time.

Standard international student fees 2025-26

International fee
Fee Band (Undergraduate) Full-time
Band 3a (Laboratory) £28,130

Learn more about fees and funding

Scholarships
Learn more about our scholarships and awards

How To Apply

Apply through UCAS at www.ucas.com
Learn more about applying

Standard offer

International Requirements



Number of A levels required:
3
Typical offer:
ABB
Required subjects and grades:
At least one science* A level subject

*Subjects considered to be sciences: Biology/Human Biology, Chemistry, Computing, Electronics, Environmental Studies, Geography, Geology, Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Psychology and Statistics.

Specified subjects excluded for entry: General Studies and Critical Thinking

BTEC Extended Diploma in science related subject will be considered.

BTEC Diploma accepted in combination with an A level.

BTEC Extended Certificate accepted in combination with two A levels.

Alternative offers through our Pathways to Birmingham programmes and our Contextual Offer scheme

Students who are eligible and successfully complete a Pathways to Birmingham programme will receive special consideration from admissions tutors and an alternative offer (typically two grades below the standard offer). In addition, our Contextual Offer Scheme recognises the potential of students whose personal circumstances may have restricted achievement in school or college. If you are eligible to benefit from the contextual offer scheme, you will receive an offer which is one grade lower than the standard offer.

International Students

International Baccalaureate Diploma: 6, 5, 5 in Higher level subjects plus 32 points overall. Higher level subjects need to include the required subjects as defined for the A-level qualification, where applicable.

Standard English language requirements apply 
Learn more about international entry requirements

Depending on your chosen course of study, you may also be interested in one of our foundation pathways, which offer specially structured programmes for international students whose qualifications are not accepted for direct entry to UK universities. Further details can be found on Birmingham International Academy web pages.

The Collaborative Teaching Laboratory is a purpose built facility designed to support the latest methods in laboratory teaching for STEM subjects.

College of Life and Environmental Sciences' Collaborative Teaching Laboratory

How you learn is as important as what you learn. The learning experience at Birmingham combines a wide variety of study methods extending way beyond the lecture theatre, to include extensive fieldwork, laboratory analysis, data classes and small group tutorials. There is also a huge of extra curricular skills development on offer through the Academic Skills Centre.

Supporting individual learners

Our Environmental Science courses welcome students from a range of education backgrounds; every student will have a different level of experience in maths, chemistry, biology, geography and geology. This multidisciplinary is something we celbrate, and we actively encourage students to draw on their individual specialisms to support their peers. In year 1, we ensure that all students have the fundamental science they need through the taught course, and there is further support available through the Academic Skills Centre, where students can register on a range of courses to develop a particular skill or interest. 

The centre is a place where you can develop your mathematical, academic writing and general academic skills. It is the Centre's aim to help you to become a more effective and independent learner through the use of a range of high-quality and appropriate learning support services. These range from drop-in sessions with support with mathematics and statistics based problems provided by experienced mathematicians, to workshops on a range of topics including note talking, reading, writing and presentation skills. 

Tutorial Support 

All students have a Personal Tutor to guide them through University Education from their first day on campus. Weekly tutorials in Year 1 support interdisciplinary learning, exploring the context and purpose of the taught course, and how this can be applied to address the global challenges of the Anthropocene. Regular 1-2-1 meetings are held in each term and in each year, to support individual development and foster confidence and employability. All academic staff hold 2 weekly drop-ins which are open to all, and further offer a space for everything from scientific enquiry to tea and a chat. Read more on Student Support here – link to support section below   

Labwork 

The Collaborative Teaching Laboratory is a purpose built facility designed to support the latest methods in laboratory teaching for STEM subjects, including biological, wet-chemical, dry-rock, and e-laboratories. Our students are trained in advanced environmental analysis to prepare for professional practise, including risk management, calibration, quality control, experiment design and replication....  

Fieldwork

In the first year, we spend 4 days (3 nights) in the Peak District National Park – enjoying stunning autumn views in the day and warming up with tea and cake as the early evenings draw in. In this introduction to field research, we examine the whole environment, from the geology below our feet, to soil type, vegetation and habitats, land use and water chemistry, and consider the legacy of anthropogenic exploitation of Earth’s natural resources over human history. You will learn how to collect and record environmental data using a range of field analytical techniques, whilst maintaining a zero-impact approach to protected sites. Most importantly, this trip offers an early opportunity to get to know your lecturers and your peers, in an informal and social setting, and this usually leads to a positive learning community throughout the degree.

In the second year, we are lucky to be able to offer you a choice of field courses, depending on your area of interest. All trips deliver core field research experience, but with different environmental application:

  • Freshwater Ecology North Wales (Lake Bala), Investigating the impacts of land cover change, acidification and eutrophicationon freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem function.
  • The Mountain environments and processes, Switzerland (Fiesch & Geneva). Investigating cryosphere (snow / glacier) processes and alpine environment hazards (avalanches and flash floods), with a focus on implications for water resources under future environmental change and warming temperatures. 
  • Urban environments,  Germany (Berlin). An opportunity to study the impact of urbanization on one of the following: 1. microclimate dynamics and air quality, 2. river water quality and ecology, 3. hydrology . You will be encouraged to think about the implications of differing policy choices (i.e. UK vs Germany) and there are opportunities to collaborate with Urban Planning students.
  •  Inter-tidal ecology, is the focus of the field course at  Orielton Field Studies Council Centre in Pembrokeshire. Here you will have the opportunity to assess organismal adaptations in response to environmental variability. This course is led by the School of Bioscience.

The costs of travel and accommodation on all compulsory field courses are covered by the School and the food is usually pretty good too! We will also contribute towards the costs of your independent research project carried out at the end of Year 2. We will make the necessary arrangements to accommodate students with disabilities for field courses throughout their time at Birmingham.

In the second and third year of the programme, some modules may involve additional fieldwork components (usually non-residential). Such work is especially important in ecology, biogeography, and hydrology where experience in field methodologies is essential. 

Find out more about fieldwork costs and funding. 

Research Project

Student collecting samples from a stream during fieldwork

Your final year independent Research Project is perhaps the most formative part of your degree. We have recently redesigned our approach to this to better support independent scholarship and employability, and align student projects with research activity in the school. In Year 2, we offer training in Advanced Research Methods so that students can develop a Skills Portfolio, and use this to consider which research project will make best use of their skills and interests. At the end of Year 2, supported by our team of supervisors, students conduct independent research, which might include primary field and laboratory data collection, environmental simulation and experimentation, global remote sensing and secondary data analysis, or climate data modelling. In Year 3, students present their findings in multiple formats including at the GEES Environmental Science Conference, and preparation of a scientific manuscript. Project options vary from year to year, drawing on our multiple environmental disciplines, usually within one of our key research strengths: 

Atmospheric science and Air Pollution 

Freshwater Ecology and Environmental Monitoring 

Soil Science, Terrestrial Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation 

Emerging Anthropogenic Pollutants and Nanoparticles 

Climate Prediction 

World leading researchers as teachers

We have a multidisciplinary teaching team for Environmental Science, that includes professors, doctors and doctoral researchers, as well as invited lectures from industry, to offer a rich diversity of academic knowledge and experience. You will be taught by specialists in geology, ecology, biology, chemistry, climate change, water quality, pollution and more. You can find out more about the members of staff in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences where you can read about their qualifications, publication history and specific areas of interest.

Our cutting-edge teaching programme is built on a foundation of over one hundred years of research and teaching excellence in the natural sciences. Our approach is research-led and education-focussed, to provide students with inspiring, relevant and experiential learning, that supports environmental problem solving and sustainable futures, whether your ambition is for a career in research or industry.

Resources and facilities

Our facilities are unique and cutting-edge. For example, BIFoR (Birmingham Institute of Forest Research) is the only such facility in the Northern Hemisphere that comes with an entire forest dedicated to investigating the effects of climate change. The Collaborative Teaching Lab (CTL) will provide a state-of-the-art learning experience with dedicated wet, dry and e-labs, as well as allowing you to work with students from other disciplines. We also have first-class research facilities in environmental pollution monitoring, water science and nanomaterials. 

Support 

You will have access to a comprehensive support system to help you make the transition to Higher Education. 

  • Personal tutors- You will be assigned your own personal tutor who will get to know you as you progress through your studies. They will provide academic support and advice to enable you to make the most of your time here at Birmingham. 

  • Wellbeing officers - We have dedicated wellbeing officers who provide professional support, advice and guidance to students across a range of issues. They can meet with you to discuss extensions, disabilities, reasonable adjustments, extenuating circumstances, or talk through any problems you might be experiencing, and help you access wider support on campus and beyond. 

  • Academic Skills Centre - The centre aims to help you become a more effective and independent learner through a range of high-quality support services. The centre offers workshops on a range of topics, such as note-taking, reading, academic writing and presentation skills. 

  • Student experience - Our Student Experience Team will help you get the most out of your academic experience. They will offer research opportunities, study skills support and help you prepare for your post-university careers. They will also organise social events, such as field trips, to help you meet fellow students from your course. 

During your first year it is important that you have a smooth transition into university. You will be able to talk to your tutors about this and discuss if there are particular areas where you need support. 

Contact Hours

In Years 1 and 2 of your Environmental Science degree you can expect between 12-17 contact hours per week with additional tutorials and fieldtrips. In your final year, more of your time will be spent on independent study and research; therefore, you can expect between 7-10 hours of contact time, depending on your choice of modules.

Assessment Methods

The Environmental Science degree has a modular structure, and in each year learning is spread over two teaching semesters of eleven weeks, with a third summer term of eight weeks for revision and examinations. Assessment methods used are dependent on the modules you choose, but may involve individual or group project work, examinations, oral presentations, and library or web-based research, in addition to fieldwork assessments.

At the beginning of each module, you'll be given information on how and when you'll be assessed for that particular programme of study. You'll receive feedback on each assessment within four weeks, so that you can learn from and build on what you have done for future modules.

Studying at degree-level is likely to be very different from your previous experience of learning and teaching at school or college. You will be expected to think, discuss and engage critically with your subject and find things out for yourself. We will support you in making this transition to a new style of learning, and the way that you are assessed during your studies will help you develop the essential skills you need to make a success of your time here.

During your first year you will also undergo a formal transition review to see how you are getting on and if there are particular areas where you need support. This is in addition to the personal tutor who is based in your school or department and can help with any academic issues you encounter.

By developing your understanding of the interactions between physical, chemical and biological processes in the environment, we will give you the knowledge and skills you need to help resolve the world's most pressing problems in a sustainable way.

You will be well placed to develop a career within the growing environmental science field, either in the public or private sector. In both areas, the demand for qualified graduates is growing as society strives to promote sustainable development, meet the requirements of more stringent environmental controls, and address the problems caused by issues such as climate change, air and water pollution, and contaminated land. 

Where could a degree in Environmental Science take you?

Recent Earth and Environmental Sciences graduates have found employment in a wide range of fields. Our most recent student survey showed that a high proportion of our alumni were working or in further study six months after graduation. Many students were engaged in work or study directly related to their first degree, with the remainder choosing career paths in areas outside of the subject where the transferable skills gained on the programme prove invaluable. 

Graduates have found employment within the scientific civil service (e.g. Environment Agency), local government, environmental consultancies, conservation organisations and environmental education, as well as in the media, education, finance, sales, IT and law. Other graduates go into teaching at all levels, from primary schools right through to higher education.

Around a quarter of Earth and Environmental Sciences graduates go on to further study at Masters and PhD level, to develop further research identified in different aspects of our programme, including Environmental Management Systems, Water Resources Technology and Air Pollution Management. 

See examples of what our graduates go on to do

Careers Network

Careers Network, our unique careers guidance service is tailored to your academic subject area. Our team source exclusive work experience opportunities to help you stand out amongst the competition, with mentoring, global internships and placements available to you.  Once you have a career in your sights, one-to-one support with CVs and job applications will help give you the edge. In addition, our employer-endorsed award-winning Personal Skills Award (PSA) recognises your extra-curricular activities, and provides an accredited employability programme designed to improve your career prospects.