Woodland Ecology and Conservation (with Sandwich Year)
University of Cumbria
UCAS Code: D502 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Access to HE Diploma
Must pass all 60 credits, 45 at level 3
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Higher
UCAS Tariff
About this course
**Course Overview**
Climate change and biodiversity loss are the twin challenges of our time, choose woodland ecology and conservation to gain the expertise to enable you to become part of the solution.
Delivered by research-active academics, some of whom have recent woodland management experience; the course includes lectures, laboratory practicals, computer sessions and fieldwork in the ancient semi-natural woodlands and commercial forest plantations around our beautiful Ambleside Campus, in the heart of the Lake District National Park. You will be inspired by passionate lecturers telling you about their own research findings, and by field trips where staff discuss the ecologically evidence-based decisions they made.
The National School of Forestry has been producing future foresters and woodland ecologists for fifty years. A professional body, the Institute of Chartered Foresters, accredits this course, and the Woodland Trust awards the prize for best graduate. Some recent students have benefitted from our exchange programme with Humboldt State University, studying among the redwoods of California.
**Placement year**
We want our students to get paid placements, rather than voluntary internships, but nothing can be guaranteed. We facilitate seeking placements and have contacts with previous providers, but it has to be the responsibility of the student to secure the placement. Some placements pay a wage, others offer free accommodation, others just a training budget. Some provide a car or use of a pool vehicle, for others you need your own transport. If you do not already have a driving licence, be aware that you will have to learn to drive in order to have any realistic hope of obtaining a placement, or a future job. What we can say is that students who go on placements provide feedback that the experience has been beneficial. It is fairly common for students to return from placement with job offers from their providers for when they graduate. Indeed, some students return part-time because they have taken jobs at the end of their placement.
**Why Choose University of Cumbria**
- This is the only Woodland Ecology and Conservation course in the UK, possibly the world.
- Woodland Ecology and Conservation with and without placement received 100% Overall Satisfaction in the 2019 NSS as part of a suite of forestry and conservation courses
- Full employment of 2019 Woodland Ecology and Conservation with and without placement graduates in the woodland ecology and forest industry sector.
- Recent graduates have included National Park Wildlife Rangers, Planning Foresters with Forest and Land Scotland, Woodland Management Consultants and Assistant Forest Managers with Tillhill Forestry.
Modules
Year one - Compulsory modules:
Introduction to Managing Trees, Woods and Forests,
Measuring Trees and Forests,
Silviculture 1,
Ecology,
Biodiversity I,
Biodiversity II,
Professional Development,
Biodiversity Monitoring - Qualifactory Practice Unit.
Year two - Compulsory modules:
Biodiversity Monitoring,
Silviculture 2,
Research Methods and Data Analysis,
Geographic Information Systems,
Forest Policy and Governance,
Forest Health and Protection,
Applied Field Studies - Qualificatory Practice Unit,
Work Placement,
Work Experience.
Year three - Compulsory modules:
Dissertation,
Forest Management Planning,
Woodland Ecology and Conservation,
Placement.
Optional modules (subject to availability and demand):
Applied Field Studies,
Business Skills,
Advanced Geographic Information Science,
Remote Sensing,
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation,
Forest Carbon Management,
Conservation & Society,
Ecosystem Services,
Urban Forestry and Arboriculture.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Ambleside
Science, Natural Resources and Outdoor Studies
What students say
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How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Forestry and arboriculture
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Ecology and environmental biology
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Agriculture, food and related studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Fewer than 100 graduates usually take full first degrees in forestry and arboriculture, so there is not a lot of data to examine — they're a little more commonly taken as foundation degrees, often studied at colleges. But for the chosen few in forestry, there are a handful of specialist roles in forestry management available every year, and this is the degree preferred for those jobs. If you want to find out more specifically about the prospects for your chosen subject, it might be a good idea to go on open days and talk to tutors about what previous graduates from your chosen subject went on to do.
Biological and sport sciences
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
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Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Agriculture, food and related studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
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