Welcome to School of Environmental Sciences

The School of Environmental Sciences was established in October 1988 with Professor G.G.R. Thambyapillay as its first Dean.  The Department of Geography was the first to take-off with six academic staff and thirty-five students. During the 1989/90 Academic Session the Departments of Urban and Regional Planning (URP) and Geology formally took off and a year later the Department of Surveying was established. The student population in the school rose to 2,100.  Subsequently, the Departments of Architecture, Industrial Design and Building were established in 1997, brings the number of Departments in the School to six.  At present the School has a total of 97 academic staff and 2,100 Undergraduate and 189 Postgraduate students.  The School plans to establish new programmes in Estate Management, Quantity Surveying, Tourism and Hospitality Management, and Meteorology shortly.

1.  PHILOSOPHY AND OBJECTIVES

The six departments in the School are closely related and collectively focused on the science of understanding, ordering, managing and monitoring the physical and human environments.  However, within this broad structure, each department is specializing in one major area of the science of the environment in order to provide a detailed theoretical and practical spatial/temporal perspective that would help achieve a harmonious and sustainable development. Indeed we work towards achieving a sustainable environment. The basic thrust of the school is to develop an integrated network of teaching and research framework that would produce well trained and competent graduates capable of directing and managing the complex processes of development and change, in the natural and human environments.  To achieve these, emphasis is placed on understanding the spatial location of features, their relationships and the processes shaping them over time.  Site and situation analysis, including environmental processes and impact of human activities, are stressed and linked to societal needs, goals and objectives.  Thus, the understanding, design, implementation and monitoring of land cover, land uses, plans and policies at all levels are given special consideration and topmost priority in the School.  Each department is moderately equipped to handle its area of specialization with efforts being directed at achieving the overall objectives of a technology-focused institution in the twenty first century.  Details on each department are provided in the departmental pages.

DEPARTMENTS UNDER THE SCHOOL
         
Currently the School of Environmental Sciences (SES) has six (6)    Departments as listed below:

1. Department of Architecture
2. Department of Building
3. Department of Geography
4. Department of Industrial Design
5. Department of Geoinformatics
6. Department of Urban&Regional Planning