Collaborative Environmental Governance in the Arctic, 15 Credits

Contents

The course is designed around a combination of horizontal and vertical themes. The horizontal themes include global environmental change, international conventions and European environmental politics, multilevel governance and administration, indigenous people’s rights and urban-rural dimensions. The vertical themes comprise environmental policy design and implementation within different natural resource sectors such as forests, water, wildlife, nature protection and biodiversity as well as minerals.

Expected learning outcomes

Expected study results include to:

• discuss relevant political science issues concerning the governance of sustainable development within environment and natural resource management in an in-depth and critical manner,
• gain in-depth knowledge within environment and natural-resource politics with special emphasis on conditions in the Arctic region,
• acquire the capacity to critically assess the research and practice of environment and natural-resource governance,
• portray different interest perspectives and theoretical understandings both orally and in writing,
• present the student’s own analysis in a relevant and persuasive way within a given time frame,
• independently perform an opposition/discussion and situate others’ work in a wider theoretical context.

Required Knowledge

90 credits including an individual thesis in Political Science, Peace and Conflict Studies, or equivalent through another education and work experience in the field. Proficiency in English equivalent to Swedish Upper Secondary course English A/5. Where the language of instruction is Swedish, applicants must prove proficiency in Swedish to the level required for basic eligibility for higher studies.

Form of instruction

The course consists of lectures and seminars, including guest lectures by practitioners and/or invited scholars. In addition to an introduction to overall political science theory and analytical approaches within the field of collaborative governance, the course is divided into sessions that analyse governance and administration within or across the different sectors. Each of these sessions include both a lecture and a student-led seminar in the form of an article review, a role play, a poster session, a field study or a presentation for a government agency. The last ingredient of the course is a (locally arranged) international conference. Each student chooses an advanced investigation task at the beginning of the course, which later results in an examination paper (3000-4000 words excluding references). One or two individual supervisions are offered along the way. Each examination paper is presented orally at the conference with another student as opponent/commentator.

Examination modes

• Presence at the course seminars and training events is compulsory and active involvement throughout the course is expected. The examination includes the student paper (70 %), and the opposition at the final seminar (10 %).
• Other written assignments comprise 20 % of the total grade (two of the following which may vary over different terms: article seminar/poster/presentation for a government agency).
• Active participation is required for the remaining seminars and training events.
• Fulfilment of the requirements at all obligatory events is needed in order to receive a pass for the entire course. The final grade for the course are U (Fail), G (Pass) and VG (Pass with distinction).

General rules regarding examination
A student who does not meet the requirements to pass an examination can, if decided by the course instructor, be given a complementary assignment to reach the requirements to pass the examination. The complementary assignment can be individually modified to the specific requirements that the student has failed to reach, but the assignment must be of corresponding proportion to the original examination.

Ordinarily, the complementary assignment is given at the end of the course or when the grades at the original examination is announced. When the student has been given the complementary assignment, he/she should finish the assignment within ten days (not including weekends and holidays). If the student fail to finish the assignment within the required time, a new complementary assignment can only be given the next time the course is arranged, or during the two weeks of re-take exams the Department arranges every year during week 34 and 35.
 
If it is not possible to do complementary assignments (if so, it is stated next to each individual examination above), the student is required to do a re-take exam. The first re-take exam should be given two months after the original examination, at the latest, but no sooner than ten days after the grade on the original examination has been given (not including weekends and holidays). If the examination is given during May or June, the first re-take exam should be given no later than three months after the original examination. Two weeks of re-take exams are also arranged every year, which means complementary assignments are treated during this time independently of when the course was given. These weeks are arranged during week 34 and 35.
 
Students who fail an examination may retake that examination. A student has the right to request a new examiner if he/she fails two sub-course examinations (i.e. an examination and a re-take). In such cases students should contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Studierektor). Examination in accordance with the same syllabus as during the original examination can be guaranteed for up to two years after the student’s first registration.

The appointed examiner may decide to use other forms of examination if required by particular circumstances.

Transfer of Credits
Students who wish to transfer credits from other Departments or universities (Swedish or foreign) should do so in accordance to the Principal's decision “Tillgodoräknandeordning vid Umeå universitet (Dnr. 545-3317-02)”.

The application must be submitted in written form. The request should specify which module or course the request applies to. An official transcript should also be submitted. The transcript must include the following information: where and when the course was given, the discipline and level of the course, total course credits and grade received. A syllabus describing the course and a list of required readings should be submitted with the request. Where applicable, written research papers should also be submitted.
 
Upon completion of this course, the credits can be transferred to a selective course. However it is always the responsible Department or program that determines the possibility for credit transfers and the extent of the credit transfer. The student should therefore always contact the responsible Department or program before submitting an application for credit transfers.

Other regulations

A written and anonymous course evaluation is given at the end of the course. During the course an oral evaluation is also arranged, and the student can also anonymously submit thoughts and opinions in digital form.