Sustainable Development (interdisciplinary minor)
Description
This interdisciplinary minor addresses sustainability challenges from a systems perspective and investigates ways to sustain society within planetary boundaries.
The minor provides knowledge of society, energy and material flows, climate change, land use and biodiversity, and the interlinkages between these. You will also be taught academic skills and tools to design interdisciplinary solutions to sustainability challenges, including innovative and circular economy approaches. Moreover, you will improve several practical skills like English writing, debating and presenting. In the final course of the minor, you can apply your acquired skills and knowledge to current and real-life sustainability challenges in the Netherlands or in Portugal.
For whom?
Whether you are a language or chemistry student, a biologist or a cultural anthropologist, the minor Sustainable Development is open and of interest to third year bachelor students from all degree programmes.
Please note that we can accommodate a maximum of 90 students. Admission is based on a first come, first served basis.
Why opt for the minor Sustainable Development?
It is a specially designed minor with courses that are closely coordinated
You will learn how the world’s major problems can be made manageable
You will work within both a local and a global context, in theory and in real-life challenges
The course uses modern teaching methods (debates, seminars, flipped-classroom, e-learning)
The course combines academic and practical skills
You will receive extensive feedback from teachers and from your peers
Final attainment objectives for the minor Sustainable Development
After completing the minor Sustainable Development, you will be able to:
A. Describe the world as a complex system of cycles and processes, and explain how that affects sustainability challenges;
B. Use theory, factual knowledge and system perspective to explain the drivers of sustainability challenges and how these interact with economy, culture and biodiversity;
C. Analyse complex sustainability problems using various methodologies, and use the results to propose well-founded and creative ideas for solutions;
D. Substantiate and defend statements and findings regarding sustainability challenges and proposed solutions to a broad audience, both verbally and in writing;
E. Identify how the knowledge and skills of your major programme can contribute to managing and solving sustainability challenges;
F. Recognise the value of the interdisciplinarity of the field of Sustainable Development by integrating different perspectives and sensitively interacting with people with different backgrounds.
Timetable
The minor is a full time programme lasting five months (Monday 2 September 2024 - Friday 7 February 2025). Please be aware that it is an intensive programme with lectures and tutorial group sessions throughout the week. Classes have compulsory attendance. Days with no classes scheduled are reserved for occasional extra compulsory classes, excursions and independent studies, which does not mean that these are days off; you will need them to study the literature, do assignments and prepare presentations. It's not possible to have other classes scheduled next to this minor programme. Should you have any questions about the timetable or registration, please reach out to minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl.
Registration
For students of Leiden University registration is possible from May 15 (13:00 hrs) until July 4. For students outside Leiden University the registration also opens on May 15 (13:00 hrs) and closes at May 31.
Registration for this minor will be done via eduXchange. More information about how to register for a minor via EduXchange can be found on this webpage.
Should you have any questions about your registration, please feel free to reach out to us via minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl.
Registration for an elective (half minor) of 15 EC
For students who do not have the full 30 ECTS available, we have a few spots available for the ‘Sustainable Development: Big Issues New Answers’ course (15 EC).
Registration for the half minor is not possible via eduXchange, but you should register via uSis. The registration dates are the same as for the full minor, see above.
You can register yourself via uSis for ‘ Sustainable Development: Big Issues New Answers (4000KBINAN)’ with study activity 21400.
If you are interested in joining the half minor, please reach out to minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl. Also if you have any questions about your registration, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
You may need permission from the exam board of your degree programme to follow the course as an elective.
Other Students
In principle, the minor is also open to students of other universities and universities of applied science (HBO), provided that they are highly motivated to do so and show great commitment. Participants will be selected on the basis of a letter of motivation and order of registration. Please see this website for more information.
You can send your motivation letter via minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl before 31 May 2024.
We will let you know if you are accepted before 14 June 2024. Please make sure to also have a ‘plan B’, since we only have a limited number of available spots for guest students.
You can also register your interest. We will then keep you informed of developments regarding the minor programme through a newsletter.
Survey
As a preparation for the minor in September we ask you to submit a survey, for which you will receive an invitation. The deadline for completing the survey is 1 July. We will try as much as possible to incorporate the outcomes of the survey into our programme and class discussions.
Further information and links
If you have any questions about the programme or registration process you can contact the minor coordination team at minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl.