StudyQA — Master: Physical Land Resources

Photos of university / #thefoundry_ugent

Description Contents Requirements Funding

The programme in Physical Land Resources has its roots in the former Master of Science programmes in Soil Science, organised by the International Training Centre for Post-Graduate Soil Scientists (ITC-Gent), and Eremology, organised by the International Centre for Eremology (ICE), both at the Ghent University.

The ITC-Gent has a long-standing reputation in the academic formation and training of soil scientists in basic soil science and survey and agricultural applications of soil science. Founded in 1963, with support of UNESCO, in answer to a large number of requests from abroad, the Institute has trained over 800 students from about 90 different nations from all over the globe.

The ICE was founded in 1989, as a reaction to the disastrous droughts Sahelian countries were suffering from since the early 1970's. As such a special branch of science devoted to the study of desert and semi-desert conditions, named "eremology" (from greek "eremos", meaning : desert) was created. Since its foundation about 70 students from 30 different countries have graduated from the Centre.

For the new programme in Physical Land Resources, started in 1997, an appeal was made to the Faculty of Engineering at the "Vrije Universiteit Brussel", to cooperate and to widen the scope of the course with an option focusing on the non-agricultural use and applications of physical land resources.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the M.Sc. in Physical Land Resources

A country's physical land resources are a fundamental pillar of support for human life and welfare. Worldwide, population pressures and severe degradation, pollution and desertification problems are threatening this - for several countries relatively scarce - natural resource, and cause competition between agricultural or industrial purposes, urban planning and nature conservation. To guarantee a proper use and management of this for a nation basic commodity, well trained specialists with a thorough knowledge of the properties and characteristics of this natural resource, and a solid insight in factors and measures that may alter its actual state and value are warranted and call for a high standard scientific and practical education.

The learning outcomes of the M.Sc. in Physical Land Resources are the following :

Possess a broad knowledge at an advanced level in basic disciplines (soil physics, soil chemistry, soil mineralogy, meteorology and climatology) that provide a polyvalent scientific understanding
- needed to evaluate land potential for agricultural and environmental applications, understand the evolution of soils under natural and human-impacted conditions, and contribute to sustainable land use planning and integrated management of land and water (Soil Science); or
- in non-agricultural applications of land, such as geotechnical aspects, the role of soil and groundwater in water resources management and water supplies, and of land management in relation to other environmental and land use aspects (Land Resources Engineering)
Possess the basics to conduct field work (soil survey, soil profile description soil sampling), interpret analytical data, classify the soil, and manage and interpret existing cartographic and remote sensing data using modern equipment, informatics and computer technology.
Characterize soil physico-chemically and mineralogically with advanced techniques to understand soil processes, translate this to soil quality and assess the influences by and on natural and anthropogenic factors
Recognize interaction with other relevant science domains and identify the need to integrate them within the context of more advanced ideas and practical applications and problem solving
Demonstrate critical consideration of and reflection on known and new theories, models or interpretation within the specialty
Plan and execute target orientated experiments or simulations independently and critically evaluate the collected data
Develop and execute original scientific research and/or apply innovative ideas within research units.
Formulate hypothese, use or design experiments to test these hypotheses, report on the results, both written and orally, and communicate findings to experts and the general public.

GENERAL COURSES (45 credits)

Pedology
Applied Statistics
Meteorology and Climatology
Soil Chemistry
Soil Physics
Soil Mineralogy
Land Information Systems
Soil Prospection and Classification
Scientific Communication on Physical Land Resources

MAIN SUBJECT COURSES (15 credits)

1. Option Soil Science

Geomorphology
Plant-Water Relations in the SPAC
Soil Genesis

2. Option Land Resources Engineering

Groundwater Hydrology
Water and Land Interaction and Transformation
Applied Geophysics

ELECTIVE COURSES (min. 30 credits)

Soil Fertility
Soil Degradation
Land Evaluation
Soil-Water Management
Remote Sensing
Properties and Management of Soils in the Tropics
Quality of Groundwater Resources
Irrigation and Drainage
Soil Erosion Processes and Control
Internship
Applied Geomorphology
Geomechanics
Geological and Geotechnical Aspects in Coastal Lowlands
Groundwater modelling
Rock Mechanics and Underground Constructions
GIS for Water Resources Engineering
Remote Sensing in Water Resources Engineering
Natural Hazards
Natural Risk Management
Geology and Engineering Geology
Internship

Requirements

Applicants must have at least a Bachelor's degree of min. 3 year with good overall scores (at least a second class upper or equivalent).
Applicants must be able to demonstrate through their transcripts basic science training in (i) mathematics or statistics and (ii) chemistry or biochemistry, and an overall academic education background in a relevant discipline like (either) agriculture, biology, forestry, environment, land and water management, physical geography, geology or civil engineering.
Reference letters
Language requirements:
The applicant must be proficient in the language of the course or training programme, i.e. English. The English language proficiency can be met by providing a certificate (validity of 5 years) of one of the following tests: (TOEFL/IELTS predictive tests and TOEIC will not be accepted)
-    TOEFL IBT 80
-    TOEFL PBT 550
-    ACADEMIC IELTS 6,5 overall score with a min. of 6 for writing
-    CEFR B2 Issued by a European university language centre
-    ESOL CAMBRIDGE English CAE (Advanced)
Enrollment fee of Ghent University for academic year 2016-2017 is 890 € for EER-students and students from OESO-DAC-list (developing countries), all other students pay an enrollment fee of 5330 €