Overview

Key Features

The Environmental Engineering programme at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) addresses some of the most pressing current political issues such as climate change, sustainable generation of energy, management and renewal of aging urban infrastructure, provision of safe drinking water and contaminated land and waste management. Environmental Engineering is an interdisciplinary science, bridging all the sciences and placing them in a social, economic and legal context. Within the discipline, there are areas of specialization, or small subject areas.

Careers

• Environmental technologies are experiencing very strong growth and are a megatrend in technological development. For example, the environment industry had a 4% share of GDP in Germany in 2005 and it is expected to rise to 16% of GDP in 2030 (Janicke, M., and S. Lindemann (2010), Governing environmental innovations, Environ. Polit., 19(1), 127-141.). The fast growth is fueled by innovation as companies develop new products to satisfy societal demands (Janicke, M., and K. Jacob (2004), Lead markets for environmental innovations: A new role for the nation state, Global Environmental Politics, 4(1), 29-46.).
• Universities must therefore develop the capacity to generate the graduates to meet increasing market demand, and must develop innovative and flexible educational products which can repond to the needs of a rapidly changing market. The Nordic countries are world leaders in the development of Environmental Policy and Technology (see Janicke and Jacob 2004). The N5T universities are ideally positioned to offer the education and tools needed for future engineers to take advantage of this Green Megatrend. Thus, a major aim of the programme is to prepare the student for a professional career through the integration of professional experience with the degree programs. This will ultimately increase quality and competitiveness, study motivation and employability.