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The Water Resources MSc

The water resources MSc started in sept 1993 and closed in sept 2003. In 1997 the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales awarded the Course the highest category of teaching quality.

The course was entirely funded by CAZS who had the foresight to see that there was a need for a degree in this subject area. During the 10 years that the course ran, 97 students attended, of which 7 had not found a job within 2 years of finishing the course, 84 found jobs in a water related industry of which 17 now work with the Environment Agency.

In Sept 1993 there was only one student, and in 1994 there were 4 Omani students from the Omani Ministry of Water Resources. When I started my studies in 1995 it was the second year that the course had been running officially instead of being an off shoot of the Rural Resource Management MSc. At that time Roger Cratchley was the only lecturer assigned to the course. At the end of my studies Roger asked me to be his assistant.

Amongst the other MSc students at the School of Agriculture and Forest sciences the WRMSc gained a reputation for being a little quirky. The course had the highest assessment load and most number of field trips. Meantime, amongst the MSc board, Roger had a reputation for trying to maintain exams, common sense and sensible standards, against the tide towards increasing administration, stricter deadlines and less contact time with the students.

The course was closed in 2003, by the management of the university who were concerned about CAZS' budget. CAZS had been bearing all the costs of the course and yet only recieving a fraction of the HEFCEW funding and student fees. In addition the management of the university were convinced that CAZS should not be involved in teaching as CAZS' primary role was consultancy.

Currently there are plans to offer a Water Framework Directive MSc under the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University, which would largely concentrate on water supply, treatment and disposal. Later the School of Agriculture and Forest Sciences may offer a Catchment Management MSc based on material from this course. However neither of these courses is likely to be as wide as the original Water Resources degree.

 

 

Water Resources MSc Course content

Past Students and Projects

My rememberances of the course

Photo archive (1998-1999), (2000-2001), (2002-2003), Other

 

 

 

Copyright © Martin Hollingham