What is Water Resource Management

Water Resource Management is a seven-semester professional bachelor’s degree programme that deals with current and future national and international water problems and attempts to find interdisciplinary solutions for existing and future problems in the water sector. Students are trained as specialists and managers in the following areas:

• Nature conservation (e.g., watercourse restoration; wetland management)
• Environmental protection (e.g., flood risk management, water pollution control)
• Sustainable tourism (e.g., water tourism, tourism follow-up utilisation concepts for raw material extraction areas)
• Development cooperation (problem areas in water supply and disposal, sustainable use of water resources)
• Policy advice, consulting, as well as regional and landscape planning related to water
• Urban water management and industrial water management
• Public administration (authorities with water-related tasks, e.g., public utilities, environmental authorities)

The "Water Resource Management" degree programme, which is unique in this form, looks at water as a resource from a social, scientific, and technical perspective to meet the diverse and interdisciplinary requirements for sustainable and integrated water resource management. Consequently, the curriculum integrates natural science aspects, such as limnology, ecology, soil science, hydrogeology, physical geography, social science aspects, such as human geography, technology assessment, etc., and technical aspects, such as urban water management or engineering hydrology. Additional essential areas of study include spatial and regional planning, tourism, development cooperation, and the impacts of global change. Knowledge of consulting and policy advisory practices, project management, as well as presentation and facilitation techniques, is also crucial for professional qualification, alongside strong methodological skills in geographic information systems, modelling, and project acquisition. The continuous link to practice in Germany and abroad is ensured by appropriate course content, but above all, by the inclusion of guest lecturers, numerous educational trips, the integrative project in the 4th semester, the practical semester, and the bachelor’s thesis.

Graduates of this degree programme should make relevant contributions to the sustainable use of water resources in their professional fields of activity, from the municipal to the international level. They contribute to the implementation of the objectives of relevant laws and guidelines (e.g., Water Framework and Flood Management Directive, Water Resources Management Act, etc.) and work in positions with management responsibilities. These include project responsibility in areas of activity such as nature conservation and environmental protection, development cooperation with the sub-aspects of project acquisition, budgeting, and technical evaluation, but also personnel responsibility. As the sustainable use of water as a resource is only possible with interdisciplinary approaches, a particular focus is placed on teaching interface and methodological skills that enable graduates to process and evaluate relevant information, weigh up the opportunities and risks of entrepreneurial action and make competent decisions, as well as to lead interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary project teams and to communicate and collaborate with experts from different disciplines in a competent and goal-orientated manner.