Programme Introduction | Environmental Science BSc

This summer, the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences (HES) at the College of Science bid farewell to the ninth cohort of undergraduate graduates and welcomed the first cohort of master's students in the golden autumn. As the department celebrates its tenth anniversary, HES has achieved significant milestones in research, teaching, and faculty development.

The field of Environmental and Ecological Sciences has for the first time entered the top 1% globally in Essential Science Indicators (ESI), making it the fourth discipline at the university to receive this honor.

Summer field investigation in Guoluo, Qinghai

We established the outdoor teaching base ORTS (Outdoor Research Teaching Space) and the first field observation site.
Field trips for the course, including the Peak District in the UK, Wanning in Hainan, Pingtan in Fujian, and Hokkaido in Japan.

Yuefeng Island Organic Farm Field Station by the Yangcheng Lake, Kunshan, Suzhou.

The number of faculty members has reached the planned 21, and the overall strength of the teaching staff has significantly improved.

HES employee List

Discover the world from here

If you love to travel, explore the vast world: count the pebbles on the beaches of California, stand in the forest and identify the birds flying in the sky; visit Japan to interview NGOs researching the history of painful diseases, and learn about techniques for remediating soil heavy metal pollution; in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, track the footprints of snow leopards and yaks, and experience the significance of protecting alpine meadow vegetation……

HES Outdoor Education Base (Source: Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 2023 promotional video)

If you enjoy focus, laboratory instruments are also fascinating: tracking noise levels and PM2.5 concentrations on campus, analyzing pollutants in water samples from the river, collecting soil samples from different locations to study their texture and fertility; inferring climate changes millions of years ago by examining the distribution of pollen under a microscope, and touching the appearance of the Earth at that time……

HES laboratory (Source: Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 2023 promotional video)

Divers and inclusive curriculum

● If you are interested in ecology, we offer aquatic, terrestrial, and urban ecology to help you understand the basic concepts of ecosystems, the management of environmental systems, and the impact of climate change on ecosystems;

● If you are interested in the Earth system, we offer courses in Earth system overview, water, soil, atmosphere, and environment. These courses help you understand the composition of the Earth, as well as the physical and chemical processes of the water, soil, and air layers;

● If you are interested in pollution control, we have courses in environmental chemistry and monitoring, instrumental analysis, and environmental engineering. These courses help you understand the classification of pollutants, methods for detecting and removing pollutants;

● If you are interested in experiments, we offer a wide range of laboratory courses to help you master the use of laboratory instruments and observe physical, chemical, and biological indicators in the environment;

● If you want to get close to nature, every academic year offers field trips to develop skills in outdoor experiments. This includes collecting samples of plants and animals, measuring pollutant levels, and recording experimental data;

● If you are interested in environmental management, in the fourth year, you can study environmental impact assessment, environmental remediation, and environmental management. Based on actual cases and factory visits, you will conduct environmental assessment analyses of businesses and try to write a real environmental assessment report;

● You can also learn very practical data analysis techniques such as statistics, remote sensing, and geographic information systems knowledge. Even if you do not pursue a career in environmental-related fields in the future, these skills will be powerful tools for you.

Faculty members as a valuable asset

The academic background of HES teachers’ spans across the world, with over half of them being graduates from top universities such as Peking University, Yale, and Stanford. Every teacher who is interviewed will undergo a two-day intensive "academic journey," including on-site presentations and round-robin one-on-one exchanges, to ensure that we recruit the teachers who best fit the ethos of our department. The student-teacher ratio at HES has always been at the forefront of the school, making it a truly high-quality small-class teaching institution.

The future is based on yourself

The first head of department of HES, Elmer, once said, "Health and Environment are the two biggest issues we are facing, and it is a pity that we are the two smallest programs in XJTLU." It is a fact that students in the public health program have encountered unprecedented opportunities in the context of the pandemic. I believe that students in environmental science will also have a brighter future in the context of global warming, environmental pollution, and species extinction.  ------Dr Bailiang Li

Looking at the data of graduates, the proportion of first-class degree holders in the environmental department has been steadily increasing year by year. More than 50% of the graduates from the ninth session have enrolled in graduate schools ranked in the top ten globally. In recent years, many students have also chosen to enter top-notch academic institutions in their respective fields (such as the University of Groningen in the Netherlands) to further their professional studies.

Proportion of degree grades obtained by graduates majoring in environmental science from 2018 to 2023

List of postgraduate schools for 2015-2023 graduates of the Environmental Science

In terms of employment, career options for environmental science graduates include environmental impact assessment engineers, environmental monitoring engineers, environmental consultants, data analysts. Some people also enter food research and development companies, join management trainees in Fortune 500 companies, United Nations environmental organizations, etc.

Internship and employment agency for environmental science students 2015-2023