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USP offers a Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change designed for professionals engaged in planning for natural resources, economic and social development and/or the natural environment. It is relevant for graduates working for governments or NGOs who are looking to enhance their understanding of climate-related issues.
Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change
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Course Offering |
Stream Advisors
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| Postgraduate Diploma in Islands and Ocean Stewardship | Course Offering |
Stream Advisors |
USP offers both master and PhD research degrees in climate change related areas. The Master of Science in Climate Change consists of *some coursework? and an individual research project on a topic negotiated in consultation with supervisors. A PhD in climate change is entirely research-based and a thesis is submitted on completion.
- Master of Science in Climate Change
- Duration: Completion of a PgDipCC would normally take one year of full time study and requires successful completion of four 400-level courses. Part-time study is also available. All courses are offered Online (O), so it can be taken from anywhere.Admission requirements:To be admitted to a master of science, a person must meet a minimum of one of the below requirements:
- Have obtained an appropriate Postgraduate Diploma Qualification from USP with a GPA of at least 3.0
- Have obtained from some other tertiary institution a qualification deemed by Senate or its delegate to be equivalent to the above requirements
- Have obtained a professional qualification deemed by Senate or its delegate to be equivalent to the above requirements
- Program requirements:
- Complete and submit a thesis that will be marked both by an internal examiner within USP and an external examiner outside of USP
- For full time students the thesis must be completed within two semesters of studies (an additional six months may be granted for completion at the discretion of the Principal supervisor). Part time study is also available, for more information about part time program duration contact Mr Filipe Veisa.
- Duration: Completion of a PgDipCC would normally take one year of full time study and requires successful completion of four 400-level courses. Part-time study is also available. All courses are offered Online (O), so it can be taken from anywhere.Admission requirements:To be admitted to a master of science, a person must meet a minimum of one of the below requirements:
- Doctor of Philosophy in Climate Change
- A PhD in Climate Change is an entirely research-based program that enables students to make a significant contribution to their chosen field.
- Duration: Admission requirements:To gain entrance into the PhD program, applicant must meet at least one of the below requirements:
- Have obtained an appropriate Master’s Qualification from USP
- Have obtained from some other tertiary institution a qualification deemed by Senate or its delegate to be equivalent to the requirements above
- Have obtained a professional qualification deemed by Senate or its delegate to be equivalent to the requirements set out above
- Program requirements:
- Complete and submit a thesis that will be marked both by an internal examiner within USP and 2 external examiners outside of USP
- The thesis must be completed within three years of studies (an additional six months may be granted for completion at the discretion of the principal supervisor)
PGDCC Streams
| Streams | Electives | Core Courses |
|---|---|---|
| Science Emphasis: | At least 1 of PC428 (Tropical Meteorology) or PC430 (Physical Oceanography) and any remaining PC course or any of the following courses: PH407, PH414, PH416, PH420 |
PC414 & PC415 |
| Adaptation Emphasis | At least 1 of PC426, PC431, or PC425 and any remaining PC course or one of the following courses: BI442, EV402, GE407, GE409 | PC414 & PC415 |
| Management Emphasis | At least 1 of PC412, PC425, PC431, or PC432(course title) and any remaining PC course or one of the following courses: DG422, MG405, MG406, MG411, MBA430, PL400, PL402 | PC414 & PC415 |
| Disaster & Resilience Emphasis | At least 1 of PC431 or PC432 and any remaining PC course or one of the following courses: DG415, GE409 | PC414 & PC415 |
PaCE-SD Online Courses Offerings
| Course Code | Course Title | Course Description | Semester Offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| PC412 | Climate Finance & Adaptation project design | The climate finance course provides an overview of climate change finance, beginning with international finance flows and financiers, and continuing with challenges and opportunities for countries seeking to access financing for climate change activities, including adaptation, mitigation and climate/disaster resilience projects. The course supports students develop skills in designing related to the design of bankable climate change projects. Through course assignments, students will develop a draft climate change relevant project. The course is ideal for students interested in working on climate change projects, policy development, and enhancing financial flows to Pacific Island countries for climate change and resilience related activities. | Semester 2 |
| PC414 | Climate change Impacts vulnerability and adaptation | This postgraduate course examines the risks posed to Pacific Islands by Climate Change and reviews the adaptation strategies to deal with those risks, both at national and community levels. The course is intended for people in the Pacific islands involved with medium-to-long term planning for natural resources, economic and social development, and/or the natural environment, especially graduates working in governments or NGOs who are not yet familiar with climate related issues but need to be so. | Semester 1 |
| PC415 | Climate Science | This course provides important insights into the rapidly developing and fast moving realm of climate science among the future climate leaders of the Pacific to understand the scientific basis of the threats of the impacts of CC to develop appropriate measures to address and manage the challenges of the adverse impacts. This course navigates through new scientific evidences on our current scientific understanding of the earth’s climate including those which point at important tipping points leading to perhaps irreversible changes in major systems and ecosystems. The course also provides adequate skill in climatology of the region and the tools/methodology applied in the analyses and is thus useful for those intending to work with national meteorological services or other government agencies. | Semester 2 |
| PC420 | Research Projects in climate change | The course is suitable for students who want to do a short research project in climate science, climate finance, tropical meteorology, physical oceanography, disaster risk management, food security, environment impact assessment, climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation and ecosystem-based adaptation at the postgraduate level. The course is tailored to the individual students’ requirements and is designed as an opportunity to work on a particular research topic. Students are required to do an independent research project, which includes a major report and seminar. Before registering for this course, students must first seek out a supervisor, obtain their agreement to provide supervision, and be assigned a research topic. | Semester 1 & 2 |
| PC423 | Food Security and Climate change | The continuing exposure and experience of climate change both locally and globally has made food security a global concern especially to vulnerable small island states of the Pacific Island community. This course examines the food system and status of food security at pre, during and post extreme climatic change events and challenges and factors affecting food security. The various international Food Security frameworks and policies will be examined and compared to the Pacific Food Security framework in order to help design appropriate adaptation protocols that will contribute to a climate resilient and sustainable food secure communities. The focus of adaptations will be related to strengthening the four pillars of food security through application of agro-technology and agromet decision support systems, resilient crops and farming systems, post-harvest, food safety and food preservations. | Semester 1 | PC425 | Environmental Impact Assessment/Strategic Environment Assessment | The object of this course is to teach students how to effectively process Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of development proposals from strategic and project perspectives. A brief critical analysis of the social impact assessment process will be addressed and linked to the overall EIA/SEA process. It is adjunct to the specialist environmental skills developed in our undergraduate science, arts, business and law programs. Students will acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the best practice assessment process for achieving sustainable development whereby specialist skills can be effectively applied to ensure that development throughout the Pacific region is sustainable. | Semester 2 | PC426 | Pacific Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology in Relation to Climate Change | This course is designed to familiarize with the causes and effects of climate change on terrestrial and marine ecosystems in an island setting, the importance of the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and linkage to peoples’ livelihood, food security and health. The course will enable one to understand the inter-linkages between climate change and ecology and how to strengthen institutional mechanisms and systems for mobilisation and participation of all stakeholders at various levels on the role of ecosystems in climate change mitigation and adaptation management. This course will also equip with tools for ecosystem based adaptation for climate change and help understand the importance of incorporating traditional and cultural approaches. | Semester 2 |
| PC427 | Social Impact Assessment | This course provides students with a fundamental understanding of social impact assessment as a tool for improving the effectiveness of development activities in Pacific island countries. It introduces social problems and issues that have frequently undermined development effectiveness throughout the world, while emphasizing issues of particular relevance in the Pacific: climate resilience and adaptation, customary lands and common property resources, cultural organization and leadership, and overcoming practical constraints common to small or remote locations. Through case studies and practical exercises, students will be expected to attain knowledge of social impact assessment concepts and methods, and to demonstrate how they may be applied in a Pacific island context. | Semester 1 |
| PC428 | Tropical Meteorology | The course provides and in-depth study of tropical atmospheric dynamics and processes. The course will cover atmospheric general circulation; the structure and behavior of weather systems; development, displacement and intensification of weather systems; key characteristics of the tropical atmosphere including convection, boundary layer processes, local and diurnal weather phenomena, mesoscale tropical systems, tropical storm structure, and energetics, and tropical cyclone development. The course is designed to provide a quantitative in depth understanding of key atmospheric processes and dynamics central to climate change in the region. It is an ideal course for students studying climate change science or interested in weather forecasting. | Semester 1 |
| PC430 | Advanced Physical Oceanography | The course provides an in-depth study of the physical ocean including ocean dynamics and processes. The course will cover physical properties of seawater, ocean structure, waves and tides, observational and data analysis methods, ocean dynamics and air-sea interactions. The course is designed to provide a quantitative in-depth understanding of key oceanographic processes and dynamics. It is an ideal course for students interested in climate variability, tropical meteorology, oceanographic processes, ocean/atmosphere interaction and climate change. Once mastered, the skills acquired from this course will be sufficient to enable a person to do basic oceanographic research and write scientific reports. | Semester 1 |
| PC431 | Disaster risk reduction for resilience | This course is designed to familiarise the learners with a theoretical and practical understanding of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) to support resilience building in the Pacific. It provides comprehensive knowledge on hazards, risk and vulnerability and practical uses of tools to assess risk. Actions to improve people’s preparedness to disaster will be also be critically analysed. The links between natural hazards and climate change and between disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation are analysed. Students will develop better communication skills for DRR with a better understanding of the importance of incorporating gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches in DRR. | Semester 1 |
| PC432 | Disaster Response Recovery | This course is designed to familiarise the learners with a broad understanding of the actions to be taken to respond to, and recover from, disasters in a Pacific context. The different aspects of the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and the Humanitarian Response will be critically analysed with illustrations from examples from the region. The course will also analyse the recovery phase with a focus on building back better in a changing climate and with the aim to build resilience of Pacific communities. Students will develop better communication skills for Disaster Management (DM) with a better understanding of the importance of incorporating gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches. | Semester 2 |
