Starts: Annually in October
Duration: 18 Months
Location: UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands

Prospective Students

The Water Quality Management specialization aims at engineers and scientists responsible for or involved in planning, developing and implementation of water quality policies, strategies and programmes. Affinity with chemistry and biology is required for this specialization.

Learning Objectives

After completing this specialization, graduates will be able to:

• Describe and predict for a given water resources system the main hydrological, hydraulic, chemical and biological processes and how these processes are dynamically linked with aquatic ecosystems as well as with human activities such as land and water use and pollution;
• Describe and explain the main concepts and instruments for analysing and influencing formal and informal arrangements for water quality management, including policies, laws and institutions, and by adopting a historical perspective;
• Explain the key concepts for integrated, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary analyses of aquatic ecosystems and describe the challenges of such approaches;
• Describe concepts to determine the value of water for various uses and users in (amongst others) economic and ecological terms and explain how these concepts can be used in water resources planning at various spatial and temporal scales.

Please click here for the application procedure for the UNESCO-IHE MSc programmes.

Programme Structure & Contents

This specialization consists of 14 modules covering a total of 12 months, this is followed by a 6-month research and thesis phase. Graduates of the programme will be awarded 106 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits.

A detailed table of all specialization modules that comprise the Master's Programme in Water Management is available here. The specializations are found in the top row and their relevant modules are found directly below.

The WQM specialization within the Water Management programme starts with a broader orientation in the first months including subjects as integrated water resources management, the bio-chemical-physical water system, water governance and water economics. After that the student specializes in subjects related to water quality assessment and monitoring as well as environmental impact studies. This programme is meant for people who come from a broader (not necessarily chemistry or environmental studies) background who aim to work as water quality managers in an interdisciplinary team and/or integrated projects.

The WQM specialization within the Environmental Science programme starts with a more focused programme on environmental sciences including the fundamental bio-chemical/physical processes such as chemistry, microbiology (both highlighted in lab sessions), ecology and sustainable development. After that the student specializes in subjects related to the management of aquatic environments including water quality monitoring as well as environmental impact studies. This programme is meant for people who come from a specialized environmental science, chemistry or (micro)biology background, and who aim to work as water quality managers in disciplinary or interdisciplinary team and/or projects. For more information please click here.