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Integrating Scientific Knowledge for Professional Education in Environmental Management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

William H. Matthews  and
Joseph C. Perkowski
William H. Matthews
Affiliation:
Arthur D. Little Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, U.S.A.; Visiting Faculty Member, Centre d'Etudes Industrielles, Geneva, Switzerland,
Joseph C. Perkowski
Affiliation:
Department of Civil Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, U.S.A.
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Extract

A major challenge in developing programmes for professional education in environmental management is presented by the need to determine how the vast amount of scientific and professional knowledge required for effective environmental management can be efficiently transmitted to prospective or practising ‘environmental coordinators’ in the private and public sectors of society. This paper describes the work conducted at M.I.T., in collaboration with C.E.I., to provide a conceptual and substantive base for such programmes.

The conceptual framework is based on a simplified model of the decision-making steps in environmental management processes. Such a model can be used for isolating certain types of decisions and roles in different social, cultural, administrative, or political, contexts. When once this has been done, the responsibilities and the educational needs of specific classes of ‘environmental managers’ can be identified through studies and interviews.

The substantive base for new educational programmes requires the development of outlines and the identification of reference material for the major bodies of knowledge that comprise the ‘field’ of environmental management. This paper briefly describes the major subject-areas treated in this study: values and perceptions, ecology, environmental effects, environmental indicators, environmental impact assessment methodology, modelling, monitoring, growth and its implications for the future, economics of externalities, environmental law, and administrative processes.

The approach and materials described in this paper are now being used at C.E.I, in the development of educational programmes for practising professionals, and at M.I.T. for graduate and undergraduate students in a variety of disciplines. Thus far, these efforts have been well received and have provided additional information with which to continue designing additional programmes.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1975 , pp. 213 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1975

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