Physical Land Resources

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 €

Scholarships

• VLIR-UOS scholarships
• Ghent University Master grants