Climate Change and Sustainability

Focus

The climate and sustainability crisis represents one of the greatest challenges of our time. Scientific evidence shows that urgent action is necessary to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change. The University of Salzburg acknowledges its sociopolitical responsibility and, as part of the PLUS Green Campus sustainability initiative, seeks to contribute to shaping a livable future.

The supplementary study programme “Climate Change and Sustainability” allow students from all disciplines to engage deeply and critically with the topic and gain a comprehensive, scientifically-based perspective on solutions to the climate and sustainability crisis. The aim is to provide interdisciplinary foundations and an overview of the approaches to this topic within the disciplines represented at the University of Salzburg.

Target Group

Since expertise from various scientific disciplines will be required to develop action plans for dealing with the climate and sustainability crisis, and because it is a societal challenge, the supplementary study programme are open to all students at the University of Salzburg.

Courses that are part of the mandatory or elective subjects of a program cannot be counted as part of the Free Electives for the supplementary study programme.

Structure & Requirements

Basic Module (12 ECTS)

For the Basic Module, courses totaling 12 ECTS points from the supplementary study programme course offerings must be completed. Courses from the student’s own field of study may only be chosen if they are not part of the mandatory or elective subjects. Exempt from this rule are courses from the cross-sectional module on socio-ecological crises, which cannot be counted toward free electives.

For the Basic Module “Interdisciplinary Foundations,” the following courses totaling 12 ECTS points must be completed:

• VO Lecture Series: Climate and Energy Policy* (3 ECTS)
• Courses totaling 9 ECTS points from the “Climate Change and Sustainability” course offerings, for example:
  • SE Environmental Education
  • VO Introduction to Environmental and Technology Law
  • VO Biology, Science, Ethics & Society
•  

Advanced Module (12 ECTS)

For the Advanced Module, courses totaling 12 ECTS points from the supplementary study programme course offerings must be completed. Courses from the student’s own field of study may only be chosen if they are not part of the mandatory or elective subjects. Exempt from this rule are courses from the cross-sectional module on socio-ecological crises, which cannot be counted toward free electives.

For the Advanced Module “Specific Topics,” courses totaling 12 ECTS points from the “Climate Change and Sustainability” course offerings must be completed, for example:

• VO Naturgefahren und Risikomanagement
• UE Übungen zu Wirtschaftsgeographie und Regionalentwicklung

• ^{Students in the Bachelor’s program “Materials and Sustainability” choose another course from the supplementary study programme course offerings instead of the lecture series.}

Course Registration

Registration for individual courses is done via PLUSonline. Select “Free Registration” during course registration if the option is available:

Certificate

After successfully completing the courses listed above, the following certificates can be requested:

• Basic Module Interdisciplinary Foundations in Climate Change and Sustainability. This will be issued after successful completion of the Basic Module totaling 12 ECTS points.
• Supplementary Study Programme in Climate Change and Sustainability. This will be issued after successful completion of the Basic and Advanced Modules, totaling 24 ECTS points.

IMPORTANT: It is possible to include supplementary study programmes and specialisation programmes in the Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Diploma examination certificate (naming of free electives). Regulations can be found in your curriculum, or you may need to reach an agreement with the chair of your curriculum committee beforehand.

Requesting a Certificate

Once you have completed the required courses, submit the completed exam pass and the corresponding certificates to Isobel Klier. After verifying the documents, the certificate will be issued by the ZFL – Flexible Learning on behalf of the Vice-Rectorate for Education and Student Experience and will be sent digitally to your university email address.

Issuing the certificate is no longer possible after graduation. Therefore, please make sure to apply for the certificate at least a few weeks before graduation.

If it is not possible to print the academic records from PLUSonline, only submit the completed exam pass.

Download Exam Pass

• Exam Pass Basic Module Climate Change (12 ECTS)
• Exam Pass Supplementary Study Climate Change (24 ECTS)

© iStock.com/Vasil Dimitrov

Isobel Sophie Klier, BA
FB Psychologie

PLUS Green Campus
Hellbrunnerstraße 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43 662 8044 – 5149
E-Mail: