Master of Science (M.Sc.) Program in Sanitation

Master of Science (M.Sc.) Program in Sanitation focuses on the delivery of non-sewered sanitation services to urban communities in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by the year of 2030. The course seeks women and men from diverse backgrounds in acknowledgement of the diversity and complexity of challenges in urban sanitation worldwide.

ABOUT

M.Sc. in Sanitation is a unique, accredited and internationally recognized program, designed for the completion in 12 months at IHE-Delft, the Netherlands started on last April 2018. In Bangladesh, this course is agreed/contracted to transfer initially at the Institute of Disaster Management (IDM), at Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET), Khulna, Bangladesh, from next July 2019 and later will extended to Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST), Sylhet. The state-of-the-art content has been developed and provided by the world’s leading experts both from the academia and practitioner. This demand-driven and practice orientated program will yield graduates with fundamental understanding and knowledge, as well as the skills necessary for creating impact. The generic skills development is embedded from the start, through individual coaching and tailored guidance. All the graduates will be benefitted from a dedicated career development program, supported by the BMGF and will become a member of the Global Sanitation Learning Alliance (GSLA) and alumni community.

The IHE-Delft based one year new M.Sc. in Sanitation course is modified for the KUET’s context as practiced and designed for 18 months period with total requirements of 36 credits including 9 credit research topics. The first batch around 10 to 15 students enrollment, will start from next July Semester 2019.

TARGET GROUPS

The program is dedicated to targeting needs and delivering specialists with the necessary qualifications. It aims to attract talented and ambitious young graduates and mid-career sanitation professionals, working in water supply and sewerage companies, local governments, government ministries, NGOs and consulting firms. Ideally these individuals are dealing with urban and peri-urban sanitation, especially in informal settlements. Participants should have a Bachelor’s or equivalent degree in sanitary, civil, chemical, agricultural, environmental engineering, chemistry, ecology, biology, natural science, environmental science, agriculture or environmental economics. Candidates who do not have a degree in the relevant field, but do have various years of work experience in the field of sanitation can also apply. Women, irrespective of their geographical location, are particularly encouraged to apply promoting the opportunities for women to enter the sanitation field.

However, for the first batch students at KUET, the enroll opportunity is opened for the graduates having the background of Engineering, Architecture, Planning and Sciences. Preference will be given to those having the experience in Sanitation/WASH. In future the opportunity will open for the graduates of other background such social sciences, economic, management and business.

FINAL QUALIFICATIONS

While being at MSc level, the program has a professional orientation. It is demand-driven, delivering graduates with the qualifications required by the sanitation sector. These features are prominent in the program: (a) linking of the taught subject matter, not only to research outcomes, but also to sanitation practice, (b) nature of the individual research topics of the students, and (c) embedding of the development of generic professional skills in the program. As a result, graduates will possess both the fundamental understanding, as well as the knowledge and skills necessary, to create professional impact ‘on the ground’. They will be able to apply existing knowledge and theory in practice and to contribute to the further development of knowledge in sanitation, and conduct practice-orientated field research, independently or in a multidisciplinary team.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The 36 credits program consists of 27 credit taught and 9 credit thesis/project research part. The taught part has 9 courses spreading having 3 credit of each course. Each course requires 13 teaching weeks of teaching with 3 Lecture hrs. in a week. However, the course credit system is also embedded over a modular structure, including lectures, laboratory tutorials, field trips, case studies, group work, design exercises and discussions. The individual thesis/project research (9 Credit) follows on after completion of the taught program, although, in order to avoid a ‘cold start’ and to guarantee sufficient time, students will be allocated a research topic and will start preparing for their individual research early on in the program, tentatively after 6 months of the commencement of course. Along with its own staff, IDM KUET has secured the commitment of a selection of the world’s leading water professionals and academics, who have agreed to share their wealth of experience with the participants of this program, either by teaching in IDM KUET through face to face and/or online via Skype, or supervising applied research work in the field.

COURSE CONTENTS

The program focus is on non-sewered sanitation, as sewerage-based sanitation is the subject of the complementary specialization
in Sanitary Engineering. The program design and plans have been prepared in cooperation with partners from academia and practice. The input from practice was essential, as the new program has a clear professional focus. The course content facilitates meeting the learning objectives and the achievement of the final qualification.

Based on the IHE-Delft’s one year M.Sc. in Sanitation program, the following courses redesigned to offer for the 18 months M.Sc. in Sanitation program at the IDM, KUET.