Education

Many regions of the world are increasingly facing challenges when it comes to managing water, and the nature of these challenges differs from one location to the next. It may relate to having too little water while water demands are growing (water scarcity), too much water (flooding), and water of poor quality rendering it unfit to sustain aquatic ecosystems and/or containing the provision of water to people, industry and agriculture. Addressing these challenges requires application of an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, involving hydrological, biophysical, chemical, social, economic, institutional, legal, policymaking and planning aspects. The MSc Program in Water Management provides such an integrated and interdisciplinary approach. This innovative program brings together the scientific study of water management with training in professional skills tailored to the needs of the students. Throughout the program, students are encouraged to study water management from a multidisciplinary perspective and to seek integrated solutions.

The MSc program in Water Management imparts knowledge and skills needed to develop, implement and critically evaluate water management policies and strategies in order to foster inclusive and sustainable use of water and achieve effective governance of water systems taking into account variations in the social and environmental constraints and resources. The program benefits from integrated and holistic theoretical framework enhanced by several experience-based and case-based instructional methods such as games, which bring together real life situations and game conditions (players, rules, competition, conflict, etc.) and activates students in the learning process.

The MSc program in Water Management starts with a foundation phase, in which students are familiarized with the interdisciplinary character of the water management domain. This common part of the program includes subjects on integrated approaches in water management, key biophysical, chemical, hydrological, meteorological and social processes, water governance and water economics. They will also learn some of the required skills for a water resources engineer/manager including: 

• Good team-work skills
• Problem-solving skills
• IT skills
• GIS and remote sensing skills
• Ability to analyze large amount of data
• Communication skills

After the foundation phase, the students compose a personal portfolio that reflects their educational and professional background as well as career ambitions. As part of the portfolio students will determine their personal study profile for the remaining part of the program, with guidance by a dedicated mentor and, if applicable, in consultation with their employer. The study profiles can be fully tailor-made based on a broad range of available courses or follow one of the thematic profiles. The thematic profiles include profiles that focus on water resources management, water quality management, water services management and water conflict management (see below for details). The program culminates in an MSc research and thesis writing phase in line with the selected study profile. Once they have successfully completed this program, graduates will be able to:

• Describe and predict for a given water resources system the main hydrological, hydraulic, chemical and ecological processes and how these processes are dynamically linked with human activities, including land use and water service provision.

• Critically evaluate technical and institutional water system interventions (e.g. projects, programs, policies, agreements) through analysis of implications for the water system, its users and their interrelations at various spatial and temporal scales.

• Conduct, independently or in a multidisciplinary team, academic research and clearly and systematically describe the rationale for an integrated and interdisciplinary approach for managing water systems.

Water Management program consists of four thematic profiles listed in the following table:

Water Conflict Management

Students will study water conflict management, particularly alternative dispute resolution processes and develop the skills required to prevent, manage and resolve water-related conflicts. They will also learn about modern concepts of hydro-diplomacy.

Water Quality Management

Students will study the water quality impacts of human activities on aquatic ecosystems, as well as possible remedial actions, considering different levels of environmental stress and in various socio-economic contexts.

Water Resources Management

Students will study water availability in connection to water use, and seek to develop alternative land use and water allocation policies, including legal and institutional arrangements from the local watershed to the basin scale and beyond.

Water Services Management

Students will study the provision of water and sanitation services as well as the management of related infrastructure and critically review institutional and financial instruments and business models considering different socioeconomic contexts.

Required for all students:

Elective courses for Water Conflict Management

Elective courses for Water Resources Management

Elective courses for Water Services Management

Elective courses for Water Quality Management

The MSc program in Water Management starts with a foundation phase, in which students are familiarized with the interdisciplinary character of the water management domain. This common part of the program includes subjects on integrated approaches in water management, key biophysical, chemical, hydrological, meteorological and social processes, water governance and water economics. They will also learn some of the required skills for a water resources engineer/manager including:

• Good team-work skills
• Problem-solving skills
• IT skills
• GIS and remote sensing skills
• Ability to analyze large amount of data
• Communication skills

 After the foundation phase, the students compose a personal portfolio that reflects their educational and professional background as well as career ambitions. As part of the portfolio students will determine their personal study profile for the remaining part of the program, with guidance by a dedicated mentor and, if applicable, in consultation with their employer. The study profiles can be fully tailor-made based on a broad range of available courses or follow one of the following thematic profiles. The program culminates in an MSc research and thesis writing phase in line with the selected study profile. RIWE does not offer non-thesis option for M.Sc. students. 

Admission requirements: 

• Eligible Bachelor’s degrees for academic admission include civil, chemical, agricultural, irrigation or environmental engineering, natural sciences, environmental science, agronomy,and geography. The Bachelor degree has to be awarded by a university of recognized standing. 
  
  
• A good command of the English language, if this is not the first language, is necessary. All non-native English-speaking applicants must satisfy the English language requirements.