Environmental Science and the Climate Emergency (Single) with a Foundation Year

Our four-year BSc Environmental Science and the Climate Emergency with a foundation year degree, is ideal for students who don't meet the necessary requirements to enter the degree at year one. Our climate and environments are changing at unprecedented and alarming rates. Now is the time to act boldly to forge effective local and global responses to the planetary crisis and societal emergency.
We live in Climate Emergency. Our climate and our environments are changing at the alarming rates, with devastating consequences for the natural environments, threatening the life of present and future generations.

Why Swansea?

• Top 100 in the World for Geography (Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2024)

• Top 201-250 in the World for Environmental Sciences (QS World University Rankings 2025)

This unique interdisciplinary BSc Environmental Science and the Climate Emergency degree builds on the excellence and expertise of two departments Biosciences and Geography to equip the next generation of graduates who will have a profound understanding of environmental and social science to act boldly, and deliver the next generation of adaptations, mitigations, and solutions.

We are ideally placed to offer exceptional fieldwork opportunities. Just a short drive from the UK's first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Gower Peninsula, you will have easy access to Bannau Brycheiniog, rural west Wales and the urban and industrial landscapes of South Wales.

Throughout this degree , you will be trained to use your wealth of academic, laboratory, and fieldwork with a strong emphasis on active and practical learning, problem-solving and authentic assessment

This is an exciting degree programme designed to equip students from across the world with the interdisciplinary expertise gained from the range of climate change, geography, ecology, conservation and social justice modules.

Please come along to our next Open Day or get in touch for further information. Book an Open Day here: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/our-open-days/

Following early compulsory modules including the earth’s changing face, global environmental change, and global shifts, you will be able to craft your own personalised path throughout the degree.

You will select from a wide range of optional modules, with the chance to mix human and physical geography modules, leading to a dissertation in your final year.
In Year 0 typical modules include:
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Elementary Chemistry
Physical and Environmental Biogeography

Examples of typical modules in Year 1 include:
Botany and Ecology
Life in the Oceans
Sustainability and the Climate Emergency

Examples of typical modules in Year 2 include:
Geographical Fieldwork Skills
Introduction to Field Ecology
Sustainable Land Management

Examples of typical modules in Year 3 include:
Glaciology
World Cities
Wildfires

On the course you will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, practical classes, and field classes. You will be assessed through a variety of methods, including examinations, coursework, practical work, fieldwork, and continuous assessment from tutorials. You will also complete a dissertation in your final year.