University of St Andrews

This programme will involve study of Sustainable Development at an advanced, research-led level in which students will gain an understanding of how knowledge is created, advanced and renewed. The programme will encourage in all students a desire to pursue independent learning with curiosity, integrity, accuracy and intellectual rigour.

This is a 12-month programme of study leading to the degree of Master of Research. As with all St Andrews programmes, it is made up of credit bearing modules. Students must earn 180 credits over the duration of the programme, with 120 credits normally earned each academic year. Typically, the first two years of study include core modules specific to the programme as well as other modules chosen from a range of options (in some cases, including modules from a different Faculty). The remaining years offer advanced research-led learning through modules that provide a programme-specific curriculum.

For information about core and optional modules for each programme, please consult the Programme Requirements, which can be found at https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/reqs/2020-21/list.html?v=az

These requirements describe the detailed structure of the course and link to the contents of all the modules that can be included in the programme. Teaching, learning and assessment are progressive, with both the content and methods of delivery changing to suit the increasing level of complexity in the material, and independence of students, as they work through the programme.

Among the distinctive features of this programme are that it aims to enable and or realise:
a) Critical interrogation of what "Sustainable Development" is or might be - exploring the
origins, plurality and complexity of ideas of sustainable development and approaches to
problems facing society and environment
b) Interdisciplinarity - which enables students to pursue specialist learning in partner subjects
of their choice alongside the core sustainable development modules
c) Students who are ready to begin research within a Ph.D. programme for their chosen area of
study within sustainable development
Other features include a range of lectures, field trips, group and individual work that will challenge
students' notions of that which is often accepted as truth. Thus de-familiarising the familiar to allow
the students to engage in an exciting and challenging intellectual journey.

In the course of this programme students will develop programme-specific skills.

Students will engage with independent and group study in a supportive framework of teaching and learning. The strategy is to use methods of teaching and assessment that will facilitate learning appropriate to the aims of the degree programme. The following methods will be employed where appropriate to the level of study and the particular content of each module in the programme.

Assessment can be a blend of diagnostic work to determine student needs, formative work submitted for assessment and feedback (but not necessarily for academic credit) or summative work submitted for academic credit.

Students' scholarship skills (in, for example, academic writing, information gathering and academic conduct) will be supported and developed through this programme. The following will be available, where appropriate to the level of study and the particular content of each module in the programme.