Sustainable Forest and Nature Management

Sustainable Forest and Nature Management

The global demand for forest and nature resources and the pressures on the natural environment seem to continue to increase. The need to ensure the sustainability of natural resources for future generations has never been greater.

The MSc Course in Sustainable Forest and Nature Management (SUFONAMA) is a 2-year world-class integrated course aimed at qualifying graduates to deal with the enormous challenges in sustainable management of natural resources.

Erasmus Mundus Programme

SUFONAMA is part of the Erasmus Mundus Programme initiated by the European Commission. The Erasmus Mundus Programme is a co-operation and mobility programme in the field of higher education that aims to enhance the quality of European higher education and promote intercultural understanding.

Read more about the Erasmus Mundus Programme at the European Commission’s web site where you can also find a useful FAQ table, studies, statistics and other useful information about the programme.

The SUFONAMA Consortium

The SUFONAMA MSc Course is organised by a Consortium which includes five of the best European universities within the field of forest and nature management:

• University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Department of Food and Resource Economics, Copenhagen (Denmark)
• Bangor University, School of the Environment and Natural Resources, Bangor (UK)
• University of Göttingen, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Ecology, Göttingen (Germany)
• Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Alnarp (Sweden)
• University of Padova, TESAF Department, School of Agriculture, Padova (Italy)

The five universities all have significant experience in research-based teaching on forest and nature management. The SUFONAMA Programme thus provides you with a single entry point to top-level and up-to-date teaching.

The staff

The core staff consists of internationally recognised specialists. In total, more than 60 faculty members participate in the SUFONAMA Programme.
Apart from the permanent staff, the European Commission annually supports a number of international scholars within the field of sustainable forest and nature management. The international scholars join the SUFONAMA Programme in order to lecture, supervise and/or participate in the Joint Summer Module.

Objective

The overall objective of the SUFONAMA Programme is to provide a top-level education programme that qualifies graduates to deal with the huge challenges in Europe’s pursuit of an evermore sustainable management of its natural resources, namely that the management of forest and nature areas must be seen in an integrated landscape context.

By joining the teaching and research experiences of the five consortium universities, this unique course constitutes an in-depth educational programme with inherent impetus to stay at the forefront of research-based teaching strongly linked to the realities in many European and non-European countries.
The specific objective of the SUFONAMA Consortium, through implementation of the SUFONAMA Programme and modalities of work, is to become a Centre of Excellence in the field of holistic forest and nature management. The Consortium will thus work to:

• realise synergy in forest and nature management teaching by closer co-ordination and collaboration between the top universities in Europe in the field of forest and nature management
• increase transparency, for students as well as faculty, and enable comparison between modules and programme specifications in forest and nature management teaching across universities and institutions in Europe
• increase the global visibility and accessibility of higher education in forest and nature management in Europe and contribute towards university excellence and European competitiveness

The forestry sector faces profound changes. Forests are no longer regarded simply as wood production "factories". Perspectives have broadened and the wide range of outputs from forests has become a keen concern for the whole of society – regions, nations and the global community.

Across borders, countries share environmental and social issues. Likewise, forest industries and markets increasingly cross national borders. Consequently, the forester of today must have a broad perspective and be capable of working in an international environment.

To respond to these needs, SLU offers second-year students in SUFONAMA the same course package as the Euroforester MSc programme. The programme is intended for students with a BSc degree or the equivalent in forestry.

The SUFONAMA course consists of a first year at one of three institutions: Bangor (Wales), Copenhagen (Denmark), Goettingen (Germany) and a second year at one of the five participating institutions, including, in addition, Padova (Italy) and Alnarp (Sweden). The building blocks are existing Master’s programmes as well as research and network services.

The aim of the first study year is to provide a thorough and broad grounding in sustainable forest and nature management. There is thus a single common first year programme specification – the learning outcomes are similar for the three first year institutions and will allow students to choose freely among the five specialisation options in their second year. SLU offers a programme for the boreal forestry specialisation. In the summer following their first year all students meet in a common module offered by one of the participating institutions.

Admission requires:A good first university degree in Forestry, Biology or related fields such as Environmental Science or Geography, alternatively in Economics, Management or Political ScienceHigh proficiency in EnglishStrong personal statement of motivationGood recommendations from two references, of which at least one is academicCVAt the time of application, you must supply proof of your BSc degree as well as the required language test.

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Want to improve your English level for admission?

Prepare for the program requirements with English Online by the British Council.

• ✔️ Flexible study schedule
• ✔️ Experienced teachers
• ✔️ Certificate upon completion

📘 Recommended for students with an IELTS level of 6.0 or below.

Enroll in the course

Category A Scholarships

Category A Scholarships for Third-country nationals: Total 48.000 EUR

These scholarships can be awarded to masters students from all countries other than the 27 EU menber states and EEA/EFTA states: Iceland, Lichtenstein, Schweiz and Norway. Furthermore, you must comply with the 12 months rule: You must not be a resident nor have carried out main activity (studies, work etc.) for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in one of these countries.

Category B Scholarships

Category B Scholarships for European nationals: Total 20.000 EUR

These scholarships can be awarded to any masters students who do not fullfil the criteria A defined above, i.e nationality requirement and 12 months rule.

For both categories please note:

1. You must study in two of the consortium partner countries.

2. If you hold an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, these two countries must be different from the country in which you obtained your last university degree.