An Coiste Feabhais Acadúil
The Committee on Academic Quality Improvement
The Academic Quality Assurance Programme, 2007–2008
Review of
B.Sc. in Environmental Science
Final Report
15th May 2008
BSc Environmental Science: Review Report 2008
2
This report arises from a visit by a review group to NUI Galway on 19th and 20th February
2008. The Programme had already prepared and submitted a 'Self Assessment Report' that,
with other documentation (A Framework for Quality in Irish Universities; Strategic Plan for
NUI Galway 2003 – 2008; The Academic Quality Assurance Programme 2007-08
[Guidelines]; Final Report of the Review of B.Sc in Environmental Science, 2001), was
made available to the Group in advance of the visit.
The Review Group consisted of: Professor J. Nigel B. Bell, Director of MSc in
Environmental Technology, Imperial College; Dr Debbie Chapman, Director of BSc in
Environmental Science and BSc in Environmental Studies, University College Cork
(Chair); Ms. Catriona Douglas, Senior Ecologist, National Parks and Wildlife Service,
Department of Environment, Heritage, & Local Government; Professor Afshin Samali,
Department of Biochemistry, NUI Galway (Cognate), and Professor Adrian Frazier, English
Department, NUI Galway, acting as Rapporteur.
1. Aims and Objectives
The Self-Assessment Report states nine aims for the Environmental Science programme.
These are each appropriate and clear, and are currently achieved with graduate classes of up
to 20 students per year.
Recommendation:
a) Add to the list the additional aim of training students in research skills; this will then
reflect the actual current practice in the programme.
2. Organization and management
The programme is currently administered and taught in the Microbiology Department,
where it has a seminar room (approximately 24 spaces), a small laboratory (approximately
20 spaces) and one office that is shared by the Course Convenor and the part-time
Administrative Assistant/Secretary. The chair of the Microbiology Department, who helped
to create and teach on the programme, has retired and two of the contributing departments,
Botany and Microbiology, are currently without Heads. The Environmental Science
programme is now heavily reliant for its management on the Course Convenor, who also
has 235 teaching hours, excluding 4th year and postgraduate project supervision. The
former Chair of the Microbiology Department was replaced by a microbiologist on a twoyear contract; he contributes 154 hours to the Course. The programme has the services of a
secretary/administrator for 1.25 days a week (two to three mornings a week) and ad hoc
technical support for laboratory and field exercises on an informal basis. This is supplied by
the Senior Technician from the Environmental Change Institute. There is a Programme
Board which meets two to three times a year. The Board members review the programme
on an annual basis and update it.
Recommendations:
a) Secretarial support should be increased to 2.5 days a week (five mornings or afternoons
a week), to deal with the current and increasing administrative load, to release the
convenor to other duties, and to ensure the sustainability of the degree programme. The
adequacy of the present office space may need to be addressed upon the increase in
secretarial hours.
b) Appropriate technical support for fieldwork and laboratory work needs to be increased
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and formalized. Both the importance of field studies to the programme and the
associated health and safety issues make this necessary.
c) There is an urgent need for additional academic personnel resources for the programme
to alleviate the heavy workload of the current Convenor, to grant him flexibility in the
use of his time (for instance, to allow for sabbatical leave), and to ensure the growth and
sustainability of a currently thriving degree programme. The University should seek to
make specific appointments of faculty in the School of Natural Sciences with expertise
in Environmental Science. Such staff should have a contractual obligation to contribute
to teaching on the programme and the potential for sharing in its management.
Appointments of that kind would be in line with the NUI Galway strategic research
plan’s goal of making the Environment a priority area of specialization at NUI Galway.
d) In the absence of any formal mechanism for representation of inter-disciplinary
programmes in the new School structure, the programme Convenor should be
encouraged to develop a direct relationship with the new Head of School of Natural
Sciences.
3. Programmes and Instruction
The programme consists of dedicated environmental science modules and contributions
from other departments, such as Botany, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Zoology, Physics, and
Chemistry (first and second year). There is a high failure rate in first year; Chemistry as
currently taught is a particular problem for Environmental Science students. In order to
balance the pure science content of the first year, students have a series of seminars on
current environmental problems, and are invited to discuss these issues. The oral skills of
students are further developed in second year, when they give a presentation on an
environmental topic of their choice. In the third and fourth years students have elective and
obligatory modules. In the fourth year 24 credits out of 60 in total are dedicated to the
research project. Projects often begin in the summer prior to the start of the final year and
continue through that year. The projects are currently diverse in topic and in the range of
disciplines included; in execution, they are of a high standard. In its current form, the
programme is extremely successful in generating skilled graduates for which there is an
employment demand.
Recommendations:
a) Geographical Information Systems (GIS) should become an obligatory module in third
year, taught in a practical manner (it is currently a lecture course offered through
Geography), ensuring that students gain the capacity to use mapping software prior to
their 4th year projects.
b) The recurrent and chronic problem with first year Chemistry as currently taught should
be addressed.
c) Possible difficulties are anticipated with future assignment and supervision of fourth
year projects, arising from the change in the pass mark required to move from third to
fourth year science, thus increasing the number of fourth year students doing projects in
all Science departments. Mechanisms should be created for the resolution of conflicts
between the interests of programmes and departments, thereby maintaining the valuable
range of disciplines available to fourth year Environmental Science students in their
research projects.
d) It is essential to maintain and even enhance the laboratory and field-based teaching, a
key component in the programme, and one that takes advantage of the location of NUI
Galway. It also answers to the requirements of employers.
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4. Scholarship and Research
This review is addressed to the undergraduate programme, but we note that the core faculty
associated with the programme are research active; that the doctoral students with whom we
met are happy with the research environment in the programme; and that the 4th year
students are engaged in laboratory and fieldwork research projects of a high standard, with a
commendable degree of interaction with research students and staff. The External
Examiner’s Report for 2006 stated “Research work conducted by the students was of a
uniformly high quality, with some pieces of work that can only be described as exceptional
and worthy of publication”. The course Convenor is clearly involved with student research
and encourages it. The degree of internal cooperation between and support from academic
staff and postgraduates clearly adds to the research experiences and achievements of the
undergraduates.
Recommendations:
a) Maintain the improvements since the last review in the interaction between
postgraduates and undergraduates in Environmental Science.
b) Continue to expose students to the research interests of a broad range of related
disciplines through the fourth year projects, research seminars, and guest lectures.
5. Community Service
The community includes the City of Galway and the Border, Midland, and Western region,
including Gaeltacht areas. Staff and students have a commendable range of relationships
with local authorities, this wider community, and the general public. These are valuable
and should be supported and sustained.
6. The Wider Context
This course responds to a local, national, and international need, in developing skilled
graduates for valuable environmental research and management. Many of these find
employment with government agencies, NGOs, and consultancies. The intake of students
has increased from c. 15 in 1991 to over 30 in 2007. It has to be anticipated that the
demand for graduates in this area will continue and that it will increase.
7. Summary and Concluding Remarks
The course has been growing in popularity while numbers in some other science courses are
in decline. In the present academic year, there is a significant increase in students entering
Environmental Science from 24 to 31. While attrition from first-year is normal, there are
limits to current growth established by room sizes, laboratory places, and dedicated staff. If
the number of final-year students were to level out at more than 20 a year, it might become
necessary to double the provision of services for those students (some parts of the class
being taught in two sections instead of one). On the other hand, the already high number of
students doing the course as a whole justifies a higher level of commitment by the
University, in terms of guiding appointments in other disciplines toward Environmental
Science, in providing technical support to get the most value out of existing laboratories, in
maintaining the current level of field-based teaching, and in providing sufficient
administrative support to enable the course convenor to dedicate his time to teaching and
research.
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Therefore the key recommendations are the following:
a. Secretarial support should be increased from 1.25 to 2.5 days a week.
b. The current technical support is informal and ad hoc; it needs to be increased and
formalized.
c. The University should seek to make specific appointments of faculty in the School of
Natural Sciences with expertise in Environmental Science. Such staff should have a
contractual obligation to contribute to teaching on the programme and the potential for
sharing in its management. There is an urgent need for at least one such appointment in
the near future; more than one appointment would be needed in order to achieve the
University’s stated strategic goal of making the Environment a priority.
And here are the other recommendations, as from above, though abbreviated:
d. Add to the list the additional aim of training students in research skills.
e. The programme convenor should develop a direct relationship with the new Head of the
School of Natural Sciences.
f. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) should become an obligatory module in third
year, ensuring that students gain the capacity to use mapping software prior to their 4th
year projects.
g. The problem with first year Chemistry should be addressed.
h. Mechanisms should be created for the resolution of conflicts between the interests of
programmes and departments, thereby maintaining the valuable range of disciplines
available to fourth year Environmental Science students in their research projects.
i. Maintain the improvements since the last review in the interaction between
postgraduates and undergraduates in Environmental Science.
j. Continue to expose students to the research interests of a broad range of related
disciplines through the fourth year projects and research seminars.
k. It is essential to maintain and even enhance the laboratory and field-based teaching, a
key component in the programme, and one that takes advantage of the location of NUI
Galway.
8. Comments on the Methodology of the Review Process
The acting head of Microbiology did not attend his scheduled meeting with the committee.
This was a disappointment, because that is the Department in which the programme is
lodged.
A summary of feedback from student questionnaires, a list of final year projects, and
past external examiners’ reports should be included in the self-assessment report.
A current strategic plan covering all activities of the Unit, showing linkages to the
Strategic and Academic Plans of the University and Faculty would also have been useful as
part of the documentation sent to reviewers.
All participants in the process—from first-year students to senior administrators of
the university—were very positive, friendly, and helpful. When documentation was
missing, it was supplied promptly upon request. The Review Group wishes to thank the
undergraduates, postgraduates, Senior Lecturer and Course Convenor, contract Lecturer, Law
Faculty Lecturer, Administrative Assistant, Senior ECI Technician, Dean and Registrar for their
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time and valuable contributions to the process. We also extend our gratitude to the Director of
the Quality Office for his courtesy and guidance in the Review process and to his staff for their
attention to all logistical arrangements related to the visit. The Review Team thanks all
concerned for their hospitality.
Dr Debbie Chapman (Chair)
Professor J. Nigel B. Bell
Ms. Catriona Douglas,
Professor Afshin Samali (Cognate)
Professor Adrian Frazier (Rapporteur)
15th May 2008
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