Name of the Programme: BSc Sustainable Development

Duration: 3 years (full-time)

Credit Points: 360 credit points

The aim of the BSc in Sustainable Development programme is to equip the students with the concept and practices of socio-economic development and environmental protection for the current and future generations. The programme is designed to develop knowledge, skills and competencies in project management, personal development and leadership, and research.

The programme also aligns with the country’s development philosophy of Gross National Happiness by equipping students with the right attitude towards a balanced approach to development. The programme will instill students with additional transferable skills such as problem solving, collaboration and teamwork, adaptability, leadership, time management, analytical skills, communication and creativity which are essential for their day-to-day career progression. This programme is also intended to enhance the ability of the students to apply knowledge and skills in finding solutions to different development issues.

On completion of the programme, graduates will be able to:

• Explain the concepts of sustainable development

• Assess social organizations and principles of sociology linking local communities 

• Correlate the function and role of communication to support development

• Apply principles of economics to address developmental issues 

• Apply entrepreneurship knowledge and skills in designing and managing businesses

• Elucidate the science of mitigation, adaptation and resilience to climate change

• Develop leadership and management skills for planning, personal and organizational development

• Apply knowledge and skills of research and statistics in finding solutions to development issues

• Relate the roles of public health with sustainable development 

• Assist communities to adopt sustainable natural resources management practices

• Evaluate development policies.

• The sustainable development programme is introduced based on the wider understanding that the natural resources are used to the extent that it may be not be substitutable and may not be reversible if the past and the current trend is adopted.

Year 1:

1. DEV101(Introduction to Sustainable Development): This module aims to introduce students to the core concepts and challenges of sustainable development as well as to the institutions and approaches addressing these challenges. Particular attention is given to the role of sustainable livelihoods in rural and urban contexts. Students are expected to learn about goals, indicators, and monitoring and evaluation systems in development practice. Students are also expected to learn Gross National Happiness (GNH) and other globally recognized sustainable development models for better understanding of sustainable development concept.

2. SOC101(Introduction to Sociology): The module provides a general introduction to the basic concepts, principles, and theories of sociology, and the dynamics of rural societies in relation to sustainable rural development. Topics such as society, culture, socialization, groups and organizations, sexuality, and deviance are examined. Major social institutions including the family, education, and the political economy are also discussed. As the module progresses, the students can develop their sociological imagination by relating the topics and theories to their own life experiences.

3. ACS101(Academic Skills): This module aims to develop the knowledge and understanding of a range of academic skills required for study at university level. The module will focus on the development of academic writing, oral presentation, as well as listening skills to enable students to communicate effectively in both spoken and written forms. The module will enhance their learning throughout their studies at university and beyond, through close reading, discussions and critiquing of academic texts. Further, it will also enhance students’ capacity to critically reflect on their own learning.

4. EVS102(Environmental Studies): This module will introduce to the concepts of environment and climate studies such as pollution, natural resources, and climate change. Specifically, it deals with current and emerging environmental and climate change issues. It also aims to create understanding in environmental management practices through case studies. The module also explores the basic principles of environmental stewardship essential for sustainable development.

5. ECN101(Fundamentals of Economics): The module will mostly focus on basic concepts such as the demand and supply model of markets, an analysis of production and costs within firms, profit maximisation and the firm’s output decision, and the impact of market structure on price and quantity outcomes. The module will also include an introduction to the national economy and international affairs. This module is a suitable primer for further modules that can be taken in economics, either as part of another degree programme or as part of a future professional qualification.

Semester II

1. DZG101(Dzongkha): སྦྱོང་ཚན་འདི་གི་དམིགས་ཡུལ་གཙོ་བོ་ར་སློབ་སྦྱོང་པ་ཚུ་གིས་ རང་གི་མི་ཚེ་ནང་ ལཱ་གཡོག་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་གནད་དོན་ ག་ཅིའི་ཐད་ལས་འབད་རུང་ རྫོང་ཁའི་ཐོག་ལུ་ བརྡ་དོན་སྤྲོད་ལེན་ ཚུལ་དང་མཐུན་ཏོག་ཏོ་སྦེ་ འབད་ཚུགས་ནིའི་དོན་ལུ་ཨིན།དེ་མ་ཚད་སྦྱོང་ཚན་འདི་གིས་རྫོང་ཁའི་ཐོག་ལུ་ཤེས་ཡོན་འབྲི་རྩལ་གྱི་ལམ་ལུགས་དང་འཁྲིལ་ཏེ་བྲི་ཚུགས་ནི་ལུ་ཡང་དམིགས་གཏད་བསྐྱེདཔ་ཨིན།

2. RES101(Data Management and Analytics in Microsoft Excel): This module is designed to introduce students to data management using various formulae and functions in Microsoft Excel. In the later part of the module, students are exposed to various Excel Analytical tools, including handling, and querying large datasets using some of the most recent Excel Add-in packages and products. At the end, the module provides students with hands-on experiences of business and financial modelling.

3. ECN102(Development Economics): This module aims to introduce the nature and meaning of development and underdevelopment and their various manifestations in developing nations. The module will also explore theories of economic development, major domestic development problems, and development policies in international, macro, and financial spheres.

4. ECL103(Principles of Ecology and Ecosystem): This module will introduce students to the basic principles of population, community ecology and ecosystem. It provides foundational topics such as trophic levels, succession theories, ecological niche modelling, environmental sociology, and green religion and traditional beliefs. These foundational topics will enable students to understand how three core domains of sustainable development are interlinked to achieve its goals. Students will also gain field experience through field ecology.

5. DEV102(Communication for Development): The aim of this module is to introduce students to the concept, theories and principles of development communication, the role of development communication in development, and the process, tools and techniques of communication to bring about social change. It will provide students the understanding of how to design and evaluate communication interventions and tools in different context and situations.

Year 2:

Semester I

1. EDP203(Agri-business and Marketing): The aim of this module is to equip the students with the knowledge and skills of agribusiness and marketing. Therefore, the fundamental principles and concepts of agribusiness and marketing covered in this module, in various assignments and field visits will prepare the students to work as marketing and business managers or own and manage agribusiness enterprises.

2. GIS201(Geographical Information System and Remote sensing): This module provides student with concepts and hands-on practice on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS). The module also provides brief concept on Remote Sensing (RS) and the applications of satellite imageries for land use and change mapping, and relate its applications in conjunction with GIS and GPS.

3. MGT201(Organizational Management and Leadership): This module provides the basis for understanding leadership and management how it influences organizational management and performance. It explains the importance of first creating self-awareness to develop interpersonal effectiveness in managing the tasks. The module will equip the students with the knowledge and skills to develop into effective and successful leaders and to manage their personal and organizational situations.

4. AGR206(Sustainable Agriculture): The module aims to provide students with basic knowledge and skills on the principles and practices of sustainable agriculture. Students will learn about the ecological principles, sustainable resource use and the sustainability indicators of farming. Students will explore the concepts and frameworks of sustainable food systems through a systems perspective. Students will critically evaluate the challenges and uncertainties threatening food security at local, national, regional and global levels.

5. APR208(Sustainable Livestock Farming): The Module provides the information on basic understanding of the role and importance of livestock farming in Bhutanese context and also farming practices outside Bhutan. Students also learn the strategies towards sustainable livestock farming in Bhutan.

Semester II

1. RES301(Research Methods): This module equips students with necessary knowledge and skills of research methods needed in carrying out case studies, experiments and social surveys and write technical reports. It includes the concepts of research, data collection procedures, case studies and survey methods, research designs, experimental research designs, and scientific writing.

2. STS301(Statistics): This module aims at providing basic knowledge and skills in compiling and coding of data, analyses of data, interpreting results of analyses and presentation of results in the form of tables, figures short writings. The students will be introduced with the knowledge and skills of using R and SPSS software besides the use of Excel spreadsheet.

3. DEV203(Sustainable Infrastructure Development): The module introduces students to general concepts in urban and rural planning and explores key components of infrastructure development as they relate to poverty and the sustainability of human development. Students will learn about current policies and practices in Bhutan, as well as alternative and emerging approaches to sustainable infrastructure development.

4. CLM209(Climate Change: Vulnerability, Mitigation and Adaptation): This module Introduces students to the basic sciences behind climate change, covering the detailed workings of climate systems. The module aims to cover the global and local mitigation and adaptation measures to combat climatic change. The module will provide knowledge of the natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change, illustrating the detailed workings of greenhouse gases. The module will also provide knowledge on the mandates of important international and national bodies involved in climate change actions. The module will review the latest published international and local journal articles.

5. EDP101(Entrepreneurship): The module introduces students to general concepts in urban and rural planning and explores key components of infrastructure development as they relate to poverty and the sustainability of human development. Students will learn about current policies and practices in Bhutan, as well as alternative and emerging approaches to sustainable infrastructure development.

Year 3:

Semester I

1. DEV304(Public Health for Sustainable Development): The aim of this module is to provide non-health students with a basic understanding of public health issues as they relate to sustainable development challenges and objectives. The module will focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as on other health issues and their interdependence with Gross National Happiness (GNH) and the SDGs. In addition, challenges to health systems and barriers to access are addressed.

2. WAT108(Water Resource Management): This module aims to enhance students’ skills on assessing potential and existing impacts on the water environment from industrial and land use practices, abstraction and agriculture. This module will cover holistic approach to water resources management at the watershed and sub-watershed level with a specific focus on watershed planning and techniques, adaptive management strategies, capacity building approaches, and water governance. The module will also provide basis to analyze how water is used and the activities associated to potential conflicts. The module will assess the water management in detail through the analysis of different types of multi sectoral regulation system or watershed management approach. Further, this module will also explore current and emerging national and international water issues to link with interdisciplinary approaches to anticipate regional, national and local level solutions.

3. MGT302(Community Based Natural Resource Management): The module aims to provide students with an understanding of the core concepts of Community Based Natural Resource Management (Community Based NRM) and ecotourism. The module explores ecotourism as one of the means for Community Based NRM. Tourism development through rural communities is one of the important aspects of Community Based NRM which centers on sustainable development. The module also focuses on various participatory tools and techniques for effective Community Based NRM planning. It also deals with effective planning and management of ecotourism programs. It touches on the necessity of policy advocacies of the government as to ensuring/enabling Community Based NRM works.

4. ECN405(Natural Resource Economics): This module provides theoretical knowledge and skills needed to understand the supply, demand and allocation of natural resources, and cost benefit analysis of forests. Students will understand the values of ecosystem services to rural communities and nature conservation. The module will equip students to evaluate environmental projects using policy instruments.

5. HAZ301(Disaster Risk Reduction and Management): This module aims to familiarize students on reducing risks and vulnerability associated with disasters and hazards. It is designed to increase knowledge of disaster assessment, prevention, preparedness and responsiveness.

Semester II

1. ATT303(Internship): This module aims to enhance the student’s ability to integrate academic knowledge with practical application and prepare for job/career opportunities after graduation. Develop workplace skills, and social relations, and provide opportunities for students to apply communication and problem-solving skills.

2. MGT303(Project Planning and Management): The broad objective of the module is to build the capacity (knowledge and skills) of the students by providing inputs on project planning and management. Specifically, this module will help the participants to develop conceptual skills that will help them to analyze situations, identify problems, formulate solutions (Projects), and implement, monitor, and evaluate them under changing environmental conditions. Therefore, the module will examine project management roles and environments, the project life cycle and various techniques of planning, monitoring and evaluation to achieve project objectives. Through group work and assignments, students will get an opportunity to relate theoretical and practical perspectives to project planning and management.

3. POL303(Introduction to Public Policy Processes): The module aims to provide students with an understanding of theories and concepts related to public policy formulation and analysis. It will also equip students with the ability to analyse and evaluate government policies with an emphasis on natural resources management and rural development.

4. RES303(Research Project):This module aims to provide students with the first-hand experience of carrying out a research project by applying concepts/theories and practices in areas of sustainable development. Students will learn to work independently, develop analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Students will learn the skills to develop a research proposal, carry out the research project and write a technical/scientific report.

1. Undergraduate science tuition fee: Nu. 91,646 per year (45,823 per semester) (Accepted in 2 instalments). The fee amount is expected to increase by 2% every year.

2. Security Deposit: 2,000 (One time)

3. Registration/CDF contribution: 1,000 (One time)

4. Hostel Rent: 3000 per year (1500 per semester)

5. Welfare Contribution: 360 per year (180 per Semester)

6. Mess contribution: 15,000 per year (7,500 per semester)

The programme will prepare graduates for a wide range of career opportunities both nationally and internationally. The graduates will be employed as project managers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and development professionals. Furthermore, the programme is also suitable for graduates who want to assume leadership positions in local governments and pursue a career in politics.

Students will be equipped with knowledge and skills pertaining to personal development, leadership, problem solving, project management, public policy, entrepreneurship, communications, and research. This will help graduates to find employment in various government agencies, corporations, NGOs, academia, international organizations, businesses, media, and health and in private sectors.

(For Science, Commerce and Arts) Class XII pass students with minimum of 55% in English and pass in Dzongkha ( English – 5, Dzongkha – 3 and 3 other subject – 2)