HNC Environmental Management

This course will give you a sound understanding of different land uses and their impacts on environmental management and sustainable resource.

Location: Edinburgh
Study mode: Part time (2 years), full time (1 year)
Subject area: Environment, Conservation and Sustainability
Start date: September 2025
Agency code: 2R5Y

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Course overview

This course provides educational and training opportunities for potential and current employees in the environmental sector.

It aims to raise levels of awareness for today's environmental concerns, teach related skills and knowledge and encourage a holistic approach to modern sustainable development and land management. This is achieved not by studying environmental issues alone, but by looking at them in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals and competing governmental priorities.

You will gain a solid understanding of the impacts associated with human activities, as well as more in depth review of topics such as pollution control, resource recovery, climate change mitigation and adaptation, emissions management, corporate responsibility and land use.

The programme offers an educational experience that is comprised of face to face teaching, site visits, workshops, self-guided study, seminars, visiting speakers and residential field trips. The HNC is delivered on campus, with a part-time option available for flexible learning.

This course provides students with key transferable skills and enables an articulated progression route to higher levels of learning from National Certificate through Honours Degree to postgraduate awards. It is assessed through a range of methods including practical, essays, reports, online tests, posters, presentations, podcasts, wiki development and exams.

Upon successful completion a Higher National Certificate is awarded from the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Virtual Experience

Take a look around the SRUC Virtual Experience for lots of great student videos and examples of what it’s like to study our courses, along with campus and facility tours.

SRUC holds open days regularly. Visit our listings page for details of our up-coming events.

Entry requirements

one Higher at C in a relevant subject. Applicants should be able to offer National 5 (A-C) or equivalent pass in English (for literacy) and Maths (for numeracy).
alternative entry qualifications such as a related National Certificate, are also accepted. Applicants with a mature attitude who are seeking a change in career will be assessed individually.

What you'll learn

As with all environmental courses at SRUC, lecture-based learning is strongly supported by field visits, external speakers, case studies and a study tour.

This means you get the opportunity to put the topics you learn about in the lecture room into practice in the real world.

Example modules include:

Environmental Awareness
Pollution Management and Resource Recovery
Economic Issues: An Introduction
Geology & Geomorphology
Ecology & Ecosystems

Student experience

Lorna McCartney joined the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) Glasgow Conservation Volunteers in 2004. She enjoyed her volunteering so much she decided to do a distance learning HNC in Countryside and Environmental Management with SRUC.

“I loved the course, and found the range of subjects very relevant," she said. "The case studies were particularly enjoyable, and allowed me to use my volunteer experience.

"Taking this course through distance learning allowed me to step from one job to the other, without an employment gap. I didn’t have to take risks - you can work full time and study, which is great.”

I’ve gone from working in an office with no windows to an office with no walls – the great outdoors.

Lorna McCartney

Meet the lecturer

Jennifer Carfrae

Jennifer has been a lecturer with SRUC for 13 Years following completion of her PhD in Plant Ecophysiology and Atmospheric Pollution with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. She has also been the Co-ordinating Programme Team Leader for the Environmental Management programme based in Edinburgh since 2015.

Jennifer is passionate about sustainable resource use and environmental protection. She teaches modules related to her research areas of interest in waste and contaminated land management and makes use of her research and studies in her teaching with a particular focus on practical and vocational skills delivery both in her modules and within the programme.

John MacDonald

John has been a lecturer at SRUC for 15 years following eight years as a Research and Development Officer, and 20 years as an engineer. He is Programme Team Leader for Environmental Management in Aberdeen and has seen many students attain success and move on to varying careers within the environmental sector.

John’s industry experience of Environmental Management Systems, Environmental Economics, Carbon Management, Environmental Management and risk modelling are crucial to delivering quality education, with him teaching in all of these areas through online platforms, on campus and through various residential field trips and site visits. He has continued to support his own learning by obtaining an Masters in Environmental Decision Making.

View John's LinkedIn profile

John Holland

A lecturer for 26 years, Johns PhD was on Plant herbivore interactions within a complex mosaic of grassland, mire and montane communities.

John has always had an interest in and passion for ecology and natural history, particularly in mountain environments. His main research interests are in upland ecosystem services, hill grasslands, agri-environmental management, and farm woodlands and agroforestry.

A guest lecturer for various undergraduate and postgraduate courses, John lectures at the Riverside and Edinburgh campuses and to visiting students at the SRUC farm.

View John's Pure profile

Fees and funding

Eligible full-time students studying HNC Environmental Management should apply to SAAS for fees and funding. A student loan is also available to help students with living costs.

If you do not apply, you will have to pay your fees yourself and if you have studied at HNC/D/degree level before SAAS may not pay your fees.

More information about funding your course

Find out more about your payment options for this course in our fees and funding section

Fees & funding

Other possible routes to funding

Care experienced bursary: There are a number of bursaries available to care-experienced students studying full time. Find out more from our student funding teams at: registryfunding@SRUC.ac.uk
Discretionary fund
SAAS student bursary
Care Experienced Accommodation Grant
Childcare
Going further bursary
RUK bursary (for students from outside Scotland)
The Gregor Thomas Royan Lamb Bursary for Future Farmers
Centenary bursary
Change your path bursary

HNC Environmental Management

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