APMA91-Environmental Management: Principles and Practice

Module Provider: Agriculture
Number of credits: 10 [5 ECTS credits]
Level:7
Terms in which taught: Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2021/2

Module Convenor: Prof Simon Mortimer
Email: s.r.mortimer@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

Learn how the principles of environmental management are applied in professional settings. Using a series of lectures, case studies and field visits, we will examine the motivations for businesses and organisations to carry out environmental management, the ways in which environmental impacts are assessed and the systems employed to minimise environmental problems.

Aims:

To encourage and enable students to:

• understand how business and organisations address environmental issues, measure their impacts and respond to drivers such as policy and regulation and pressure from consumers and the wider public


• examine and critically appraise the relationships between the principles of environmental management and its practice in a number of case studies


• place their own understanding and experience (professional and/or educational) in a broader multidisciplinary perspective of issues relating to environmental management.


• develop further their skills in researching cross-cutting issues relating to environmental management, including skills of critical reasoning, analysing, evaluating and synthesising

Assessable learning outcomes:

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• synthesise critically appraise the relationships between the principles of environmental management and its practice, with particular regard to both environmental and socio-economic aspects


• explore the potential environmental consequences of a range of economic activities and outline approaches to environmental impact assessment


• explain the relationship between regulation of business and corporate responsibility in man aging environmental impact


• evaluate the effectiveness of policies, governance structures and environmental management systems in monitoring and controlling environmental impact in businesses and organisations

Additional outcomes:

• demonstrate good academic practice in use, citation and referencing of source material


• use appropriate bibliographic sources and tools to identify literature relevant to a given topic

Outline content:

Lectures and guided pre-class learning on corporate environmental responsibility, regulation, Environmental Impact Assessment, environmental auditing and Environmental Management Systems. Through industrial visits and a seminar given by an external speaker, students will gain an understanding of issues that are of interest to industry, consultancies, NGOs and government agencies. This will also foster an awareness of potential employment opportunities at the end of the degree. 

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The principles of corporate environmental responsibility, regulation, Environmental Impact Assessment, environmental auditing and Environmental Management Systems will be covered in lectures. A number of businesses and organisations will be visited to illustrate environmental management in a number of contexts. An opportunity for practical application of these principles will be provided through writing an EIA scoping report and environmental statement.

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Lectures		18
External visits		8
Guided independent study:		74
Total hours by term	0	100	0
Total hours for module	100

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Report	100

Summative assessment- Examinations:

N/A

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

The module will be assessed by two pieces of written coursework:

(a) A report of a visit to an environmental organisation and discussions with its staff (40%).

(b) A report to a client organisation outlining the screening, scoping and environmental statement for the EIA for a development.  60%

Formative assessment methods:

Penalties for late submission:

The below information applies to students on taught programmes except those on Postgraduate Flexible programmes. Penalties for late submission, and the associated procedures, which apply to Postgraduate Flexible programmes are specified in the policy £Penalties for late submission for Postgraduate Flexible programmes£, which can be found here: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/qualitysupport/penaltiesforlatesubmissionPGflexible.pdf
The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/qualitysupport/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:
A mark of 50% overall (weighted average of the three coursework marks).

Reassessment arrangements:
Re-submission of coursework

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

1) Required text books:  None

2) Specialist equipment or materials:  None

3) Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear:  waterproof jacket for outdoor visit

4) Printing and binding:  None

5) Computers and devices with a particular specification:  None

6) Travel, accommodation and subsistence:  None

Last updated: 12 April 2022