If you are interested in following the master programme Environmental, Energy and Water Management (MEEM), this minor is the perfect programme for you!

Upon completing this transfer minor, or “MEEM premaster”, you will be able to immediately start the MEEM programme after having obtained your degree from a Higher Professional Education (HBO) institution.

You will gain academic skills and improve your technical knowledge, focusing on the core themes of MEEM. The minor includes six courses in two modules, which respectively provide you with the skills and knowledge that will prepare you for the MEEM programme:

1. Academic Skills (15 EC)
2. Understanding Sustainable Development (15 EC)

Coursework will be augmented through interactive online material and opportunities for challenge-based learning on sustainability challenges.

After completing this minor, the student will be able to: 

Academic Reading Skills (5 EC)

· Recognize and identify the factors (including biases) that influence readers.
· Distinguish different discourses as they relate to his/her field of study
· Apply critical reading skills in order to recognize and identify the (undeclared) positions and (hidden) assumptions that lie beneath a text or a presentation of statistical information.
· Apply techniques such as scanning, surveying and skimming in order to improve reading efficiency.
· Evaluate the credibility and scientific validity of a piece of text in terms of the logic of the argument given and the solidity of the factual base.

Academic Writing Skills (5 EC)

· Distinguish between different types of writing (descriptive, analytical, critical and reflective) and explain what the implication of each type of writing is.
· Prepare a focused, coherent analysis according to scientific convention, and incorporate literature references.
· Compose texts (annotated bibliography, memo) which present scientific literature with clarity and consistency, critically discuss evidence and counter-evidence, and articulate nuances in arguments.
· Compose texts (memo, position paper) which meet the criteria of clarity, logical structure, persuasiveness, succinctness and focus.

Academic research skills (5 EC)

· Explain how scientific claims to knowledge differ from other claims to knowledge (e.g., from the arts, folklore, and religion).
· Differentiate between ‘the scientific method’ and other ways of investigating and deriving knowledge (e.g., journalism, police investigation, fortune-telling).
· Discuss the differences between scientific research in the natural and scientific research in the social-sciences and apply these criteria to a concrete case.
· Evaluate a text or a presentation critically to determine if it qualifies as ‘scientific’ or not and justify the conclusion reached on the basis of acquired knowledge about science and the scientific method.

Introduction into Sustainable Development (5 EC)

· Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the different dimensions of sustainable development as presented by the book Sustainable development for Engineers.
· Critically evaluate the different aspects of sustainable development and their impact for social and technical development of industrial societies.
· Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the implications of sustainable development for decisions by public and private actors.
· Apply the core ideas of sustainable development to real life problems in society.

Physical Aspects of Energy and Sustainable Development (5 EC)

· Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the different physical aspects of energy and sustainable development
· Demonstrate understanding of natural resource reservoir of the world, how it degrades and the instruments to measure physical degradation
· Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the impact of human activity on the physical resources of the world.
· Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concept of exergy as a unified standard for the physical component of sustainable development.
· Demonstrate the ability to compare and evaluate the different types of energy and their impacts on the environment
· Demonstrate understanding of the differences between conventional and renewable energy resources
· Critically evaluate the different types of energy and their pros and cons for socio-economic development of industrial societies.
· Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the most important energy supply chains in modern industrial society.

Discourses in Sustainability Politics and Policies (5 EC)

· Know the main discourses that dominated sustainability and environmental politics.
· Understand the way people and organizations use language on sustainability and environmental issues.
· Recognize and identify different discourses in politics and policies.
· Distinguish different discourses as they relate to his/her field of study
· Apply discourse analysis in order to make sense of the diverse developments in politics and society regarding sustainability themes.
· Apply techniques such as scanning, surveying and skimming in order to improve reading efficiency.
· Evaluate the credibility and validity of presented arguments and storylines in terms of dominant discourses.

This minor is intended for students from Higher Professional Education (HBO) institutions, who have the motivation and capacity to obtain an academic degree from an English-taught Master’s programme. Therefore, your average grade from the HBO programme should be at least 7.0. Moreover, you must have obtained at least 120 ECs at your HBO institution to be admitted to the transfer minor in February.

You should also have a relevant educational background to be admitted to the MEEM programme. Therefore, students from such relevant backgrounds are admitted to the minor, such as Business Administration, Public Administration, Industrial Engineering and Civil Engineering (see also www.doorstroommatrix.nl). If your prior education is not related to the MEEM programme, the admission committee can make exceptions. In such a case, please contact the MEEM office.

The University of Twente assumes that all students who sign up for a transfer minor have a sufficient level of English and Mathematics. This is the student’s own responsibility. Previous experiences have shown that hardly any student manage to successfully complete the transfer minor if they do not comply with these requirements.

The books and other reading materials used for each course can be found in the course descriptions of the individual courses in the course catalogue.

There are 2 terms of enrolment. The programme starts in September or early February and spans two periods of 8 weeks. Each course involves an online introductory lecture followed by self-study periods and feedback sessions. After completing the minor successfully, you can enrol for the MEEM, which starts in September. 

The courses are assessed based on the completion of individual assignments. Further information on the assignments can be found in the course descriptions of the individual courses in the course catalogue.

Each of the six courses has its own assignments leading to a final assessment for that particular course. Successful completion of a course is possible only by completing individual assignments, whereupon a final (0-10) grade will be determined according to the rules of the particular course. A course is completed successfully when the final grade is 5,5 or higher.

The programme has capacity for a maximum of 10 students.

The programme is assignment-based, emphasizing self-study at a(n online) distance, however The Master Environmental and Energy Management is based in Leeuwarden.