Eco-concerns to nourish jobs

Hong Kong's environmental issues, particularly air pollution, has acted as a prime motivator to ratchet up the need for environmental solutions, but its universities also offer programmes that train individuals to work in other environmental-related areas.

For instance, the MSc in Environmental Health and Safety offered by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is structured to address environment-related health and safety aspects, especially from a biological and health perspective.

"Environmental health and safety was rarely talked about 10 years ago, but these days, topics that concern the public and government frequently appear in the news media and various reports," says Professor Wang Wen-xiong, programme director of the HKUST MSc in Environmental Health and Safety programme. "Hong Kong increasingly places a great deal of attention on environment-related health and safety, creating a need for graduates to develop skills in these disciplines," he adds.

Wang says the one-year full-time programme is distinctive from programmes that mainly focus on environmental management and technology. "Our students study the impact of environmental stress on the health and safety of nature (ecosystems), as well as on physical health and social well-being ," says Wang, who explains the programme features subjects relevant to current problems faced by communities, government, industry and commercial organisations. For example, environmental hazards identification, marine ecotoxicology, environmental diseases and microbiology and food safety control.

Wang says students study environmental health using an integrated approach to health protection and improvement instead of as a series of unconnected activities. They also focus on technical, legal and social issues that underpin environmental health practice, hazards and risk assessment, occupational health and safety, environment and food safety.

Wang says that by participating in research projects, students have the opportunity to conduct exploration at high-calibre laboratories alongside world-class scholars. They can also broaden their horizons and inspire academic exchange through attending regular workshops and seminars.