Land and Water Management

Water is at the heart of many problems worldwide - and climate change means the list is growing. The search for solutions is becoming ever more challenging, and ever greater creativity is required.

In temperate lowlands, water needs room to move, so rising sea-levels can´t always be countered by building higher embankments. How can we balance these problems with the needs of farming, nature and human recreation? How can we deal with the effects of groundwater depletion? And how, in other regions, can we guarantee reliable supplies of safe drinking water? Or use water as a sustainable source of energy?

Reflecting the Netherlands´s enviable international reputation for expertise with water, this degree course will help you find the answers. You´ll deepen your understanding of geography, biology and economics, and weigh them against a variety of other concepts - not just life, nature, health, construction, sea-level, calculation, and soil analysis, but also enjoyment and adventure.

The projects in this domain have one thing in common: an urgent need for feasibility, and an equally urgent need for predicable effects on their direct and indirect surroundings - surroundings to which water, environment and nature are all essential. Account must also be taken of the interest groups whose influence on these questions is so great!

As a graduate, you´ll have the world at your feet, working in a profession that never loses its fascination. There´s no shortage of job opportunities: as a project leader, the head of a dredging project, a hydrologist for a regional water board, a planner for the provincial authorities, a policy-advisor at a ministry, province or municipality; or as an international consultant or soil-researcher - and even as a drinking-water advisor for the UN in Sudan.

People who take a Bachelor´s degree in Land and Water Management also find themselves in one of the Netherlands´ most beautiful classrooms: the Larenstein Estate. With four thousand plant species, its water gardens and its natural and historical landscape, this is a wonderful environment for practical studies - and also a wonderful place for taking a short break from them...

Specialisation

International Water Management (2 years Final Phase Bachelor)

The programme is competency based: each theoretical subject supports workgroup situations in which students tackle practical problems and explore workable solutions. This means that you will be active from day one, learning to work independently as you collaborate with others.