The Australian National University

From ACT GreenGuide

Lots of the courses at ANU have relevance to environmental issues even if these connections are not specifically mentioned or focused on in classes. You might consider raising these connections in tutorials and you could even sugest that these links need to be addressed in the structure of the course. There are also many units directly focusing on environmental issues that can be taken as major courses of study or as a complement to other studies.

The School of Resources Environment and Society (SRES) includes the departments of Human Ecology, Geography, and Forestry which concentrate on people’s relationships with other people, and their environment. Their courses cover things like sustainability, landscape ecology, urban and agricultural systems, climate, earth systems, water management, fire, enviro politics, enviro policy, resource distribution, ethics, participation, wildlife, biodiversity, GIS, trees, recycling, farm forestry, enviro law, population, field studies and social change.

Human Ecology and Geography units can be taken if you are a science or arts student whereas forestry is solely studied as a science. Other science departments like Biology have courses which explore genetics, evolution, animals, plant structure and function, diversity, and insects. On the arts side, Medical Anthropology units look at human health, Politics units explore development, power, international relations, social change and green governance, Archeology has a unit which studies historical reconstruction of environments and Sociology has a unit which looks at the relationship between environment and society.

There are also other units that focus on environmental issues within specialised departments. Engineering offers a unit in solar power, Law has units in environmental law, and the School of art has a program called field studies and environment studio, which takes students out into the field for inspiration. Whilst this is primarily for students of the art school there is room for collaboration and cross department trips to happen in the future.

The College of Business and Economics is involved in a range of activities relating to sustainability. The School of Management, Marketing, and International Business offers courses in corporate sustainability and sustainable marketing, and an undergraduate major in ‘corporate sustainability’; the School of Accounting and Business Information Systems offers Corporate Social Responsibility Accounting and Reporting, and the School of Economics offers Resource and Environmental Economics. Research in sustainability is undertaken, amongst others, by members of the Corporations, Governance, and Society Research Group, and the Behavioural, Sustainability and Management Accounting Research Team.

The National Institute for the Environment aims to enhance educational outcomes and employment prospects for students. Areas of expertise include art and the environment, atmosphere and climate change, biodiversity and ecology, the built environment and human settlement, environment and human health, environmental management and development, environmental technologies and engineering, policies, institutions, and organisations for sustainability, sustaining natural resources, and sustainable energy technologies. Website: ni.anu.edu.au