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1st Cycle Study: Water Science and Environmental Engineering BA

Managing water resources and municipal infrastructure means influencing the Earth’s water circulation process. Such work is extremely important, because it represents an ocean of challenges and employment opportunities. The European Union has one of the most stringent environmental standards in the world, and environmental protection is among the most important priorities for the humanity. For this reason, there are good possibilities for scholarships and for finding job after the studies, as there is great demand for engineers with interdisciplinary theoretic knowledge and practical skills.

Graduate of the first cycle academic study program Water Science and Environmental Engineering acquires the title DIPLOMIRANI INŽENIR OKOLJSKEGA GRADBENIŠTVA (UN) – BACHELOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL CIVIL ENGINEERING (ACAD.).

places for academic study program Water Science and Environmental Engineering (BA)

Basic goals of the programme
Graduates of the bachelor’s study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering will acquire general fundamental knowledge of natural and social sciences, as well as applicable expert (civil) engineering skills for solving elementary administrative procedures and designing, planning, implementing and maintaining less demanding (according to the Construction Act) civil engineering structures (according to the uniform classification of types of constructions CC-SI) in the areas of water management, municipal and environmental engineering.

Besides gaining general theoretic knowledge, students will also learn the traditional principles of water science and the latest achievements of the profession, presented in a modern way using state-of-the-art technology. By working in groups, involvement in project work, field work and by solving problem tasks, students will acquire the essentials of interdisciplinary teamwork and public speaking skills and will be able to coherently present scientific and engineering ideas to expert and lay public. They will become acquainted in business with clients in administrative procedures, procedures of public procurement, and designing of structures and measures. The students will have the opportunity to test all the acquired theoretical knowledge to the largest possible extent within practical exercises and real-life case studies, which will help them, together with practical training as part of the study, to get involved in practical work after the finished bachelor’s study. Another goal of the programme is also to provide the students with sufficient basic engineering knowledge to allow the development of abstract thinking and successful continuation of the study at different second cycle (i.e. master’s degree) programmes.

General competences
General competences acquired by the graduates of the bachelor’s study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering are:

  • general overview of academic areas,
  • development of abilities to frame, comprehend and creatively solve problems, principles and theories,
  • high level of creativity and innovation as a result of the interdisciplinary nature of the study,
  • critical reading and understanding of relevant literature, independent knowledge gathering and literature search,
  • development of the abilities of critical, analytical and synthetic thinking,
  • competences for transferring and applying theoretical knowledge into practice and solving professional and practical problems,
  • development of professional and ethical responsibilities,
  • development of verbal and numerical literacy, public speaking skills and competences to communicate with clients as well as the lay and professional public,
  • ability to use a foreign language in professional written and oral communication,
  • ability to use information and communication technologies, also in an international setting,
  • ability to establish local and international interdisciplinary connections,
  • compliance with safety, functional, economic and environmental aspects of work,
  • development of high ethical and moral standards (maintaining integrity when working with clients, providing unbiased advice, sustaining independence and expertise according to valid legislation),
  • developing an objective view of the environment and society,
  • accepting responsibilities to customers and employers as well as the society as a whole,
  • ability to design and implement constructions in compliance with quality and price standards and carry out independent technical evaluations supported by scientific analysis and synthesis, all based on the acquired fundamental knowledge of basic natural and social sciences and fundamental expertise from the area of civil engineering, water science and municipal engineering,
  • ability to consider the basics of engineering economy and the issues of environment protection in designing structures in the area of environmental civil engineering.

Course-specific competences acquired with the programme

Course-specific competences the students acquire within the program Water Science and Environmental Engineering are mainly the following:

  • understanding the role and importance of water management in modern society,
  • taking part in planning, organisation, management and implementation of the construction of less demanding civil engineering structures in the area of water management,
  • independently designing of individual elements of less demanding civil engineering structures in the area of water management but does not design the entire structures,
  • independently and creatively performing certain (less demanding) tasks from the area of water management, environmental and municipal engineering,
  • taking part (within a group) in planning, design and implementation of different interventions into the aquatic environment,
  • involvement in the preparation of spatial planning acts,
  • coordinating work between investors, designers and contractors,
  • knowing the basics of legal, institutional and administrative system essential for water management and for managing and recording water resources,
  • the graduates are qualified to oversee smaller water management companies.
Enrolment requirements and selection criteria in case of restricted enrolment

The first cycle bachelor degree study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering is available to the candidates who:

  1. passed the general matura exam;
  2. pass vocational matura exam from one of the four-year secondary school programmes Electrician, Pharmaceutical Technician, Surveyor, Geotechnician, Forestry Technician, Civil Engineering Technician, Chemical Technician, Agricultural Enterprise Technician, Ship Mechanical Technician, Wood Technician, Metallurgical Technician, Environmental Protection Technician, Mechanical Technician, Technician of Economic Communications, Technician of Electronic Communications, Technician of Laboratory Biomedicine, Mechatronic Technician, Computer Technician, and exam from the general matura exam from mathematics; 
  3. finished any of the four-year secondary school programmes before 1. 6. 1995.

The study programme is also available for candidates who acquired equivalent education abroad. The number of places is determined in the Call for enrolment into first cycle study programmes of the University of Ljubljana individually for each academic year.

In case of restricted enrolment the following conditions shall be considered:

the candidates under items (1) and (3) shall be selected according to their:

  • general success in general matura exam or school-leaving exam: 60 %
  • general success in the 3rd and 4th years of the secondary school: 40 %
  • the candidates under item (2) shall be selected according to their: general success in the professional matura exam: 40 %
  • general success in the 3rd and 4th years of the secondary school: 40 %
  • success in extra matura examination: 20 %
Knowledge and skills required for the admission to the program
Certain knowledge and skills comparable to the content and scope of the programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering can be recognised by the Study Board of the Department of Environmental Civil Engineering UL FGG. The Board makes decisions regarding the recognition of knowledge and skills acquired before enrolment based on the student’s written application, enclosed certificates and other documents evidencing successfully acquired knowledge and skills, and in accordance with the Rules on the procedure and criteria for the acknowledgement of informally acquired knowledge and skills, adopted on 29 May 2007 at the 15th meeting of the Senate of UL.

The recognition process considers the following:

  • certificates and other documents (recognition of »non-typical certificates«, portfolios, documents about finished courses and other forms of education),
  • evaluation of finished products, services, publications and other original works of the student (possibility of performing study obligations – e.g. exams, preliminary exams, etc. – by evaluating products, e.g. projects, made by the student before the enrolment),
  • evaluation of knowledge acquired by the student with self-education or empirical learning (possibility of completing study obligations – e.g. exams, preliminary exams, etc. – without participation at lectures, practical work, seminars),
  • adequate work experience (e.g. recognition of practical training and other course units of the program that are based on practical work and experience).

Should the Study Board of the department establish that the acquired knowledge may be recognised, this shall be evaluated with the same number of credits according to ECTS as the number of credits in the subject.

Advancement conditions according to the program

Conditions for progression from one year to another

Student may enrol in the second year if he/she has completed the prescribed obligations by the end of the academic year and achieved 52 ECTS credit points from the first year. Student may enrol in the third year if, by the end of the academic year, he/she has completed the prescribed obligations and achieved at least 50 ECTS credit points from the second year and completed all the prescribed obligations and achieved 60 ECTS credit points from the first year.

Under exceptional circumstances, students may be permitted to proceed without successful completion of the obligations defined to proceed to the higher year of the study programme, provided they have justifiable reasons as defined by the UL Statute (maternity, extended illness, exceptional family and social circumstances, certified status of a person with special needs, active participation in top expert, cultural and sports events, active participation on University bodies).

Under the conditions set out in the above paragraph, students may enrol in a higher year with at least 45 ECTS credits collected. The decision to permit enrolment is adopted by the Study Board of the Department of Environmental Civil Engineering of UL FGG.

Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering has an established tutorship and supervision system in place for its students, offered also in the framework of the bachelor degree study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering. Students have class mentors in all three years, and smaller groups of students have individual tutors who will either be academic staff members or higher year students who will help their protégés in choosing study orientations, elective courses etc.

Students with above average study results will be allowed faster advancement, if applicable with regards to the study process. Based on the student’s application the decision is adopted by the Study Board of the Department of Environmental Civil Engineering of UL FGG. With a decree of the Study Board the principles of faster progress are determined.

Conditions for repeated enrolment in the same year

Failing to meet the obligations defined by the study programme for advancement in the next year, students may enrol in the same year for the second time, provided that they have obtained at least 30 ECTS credits.

Requirements for completion of the study
Students finish the study by accomplishing the prescribed obligations totalling 180 credit points according to ECTS, including practical training and diploma thesis.

According to the Professional and Academic Titles Act the graduate is awarded with the academic title:
diplomirani inženir okoljskega gradbeništva (UN), abbreviated as dipl. inž. ok. gradb. (UN), level 6/2.
In compliance with the Professional and Academic Titles Act (Official Gazette No. 61/2006) professional and scientific titles as well as titles acquired by education shall not be translated to foreign languages. However, as reference only, the title acquired according corresponds to the English title Bachelor of Environmental Civil Engineering (UN).

Transfer between study programmes
Transfer between programmes shall mean termination of education in the student’s original study programme (first programme) and continuation of education in the first cycle bachelor study programme of Water Science and Environmental Engineering (second programme), in which a part of the completed study requirements from the first study programme are recognised as completed.

Transfers are possible from the first cycle study programmes, and until their expiration also from the undergraduate academic study programmes adopted before June 11 2004, where the competences of the finished studies are comparable and according to the acknowledgement criteria at least half of the obligations according to ECTS from the first study programme related to compulsory courses of the second study programme can be acknowledged. Considering the scope of acknowledged obligations from the first study programme in the Republic of Slovenia or abroad student may enrol to the same or higher year in the second study programme. Transferring students shall fulfil the conditions for the enrolment to the second study programme.

Applications of candidates for the transfer to the first cycle bachelor study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering and the scope of acknowledged obligations in the study programme will be examined individually by the Study Board of the Department of Environmental Civil Engineering. If in the procedure of acknowledging obligations for the purpose of transfer the candidate is approved at least the amount of credit points and those point that are required for the enrolment to the higher year of the first cycle bachelor study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering, the candidate may enrol to the higher year of the first cycle bachelor study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering.

Methods of Assessment

Knowledge is examined and evaluated in individual courses. Accordingly, the teaching process in each course finishes with the examination of knowledge and acquired skills. The forms of knowledge testing (oral or written examinations, preliminary examinations, seminar works, work logs, practical assignments, projects, portfolios, peer evaluation) are defined in the study plans of individual courses. General rules of knowledge testing are regulated by the Rules on the first and second cycle studies at the UL FGG, adopted by the Senate of FGG. The details are defined by the Study Regulations.

The student receives a single grade of the exam, consisting of foreseen required obligations in each course. Each obligation shall be evaluated with a positive grade.

Knowledge from preliminary and partial examinations, seminars, seminar works, work logs, practical projects, home projects, homework and similar amounts to at least 30 % of the total grade.

According to the Statute of the University of Ljubljana the following grading scale is used:

10 – (91–100 %: excellent: exceptional results with negligible mistakes),
9 – (81–90 %: very good: above average knowledge with few mistakes),
8 – (71–80 %: very good: sound outcomes),
7 – (61–70 %: good: good knowledge, but with significant shortcomings)
6 – (51–60 %: sufficient: performance meets the minimum criteria),
5 – (50 % and less: unsatisfactory: performance does not meet minimum criteria).

The candidate's performance is considered successful for grades from satisfactory (6) to excellent (10).

Possibilities of elective courses and mobility

The bachelor degree study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering foresees elective courses totalling 18 ECTS. One elective course is foreseen in the 3rd semester and two elective courses, the first in the 5th semester and the second in the 5th and 6th semester. 8 ECTS may be selected freely (from other study programs at the University of Ljubljana). Water Science and Environmental Engineering study programme proposes the Statistics elective course, where the student chooses between two statistics courses, the Economic Analysis elective course, where the student chooses between two economics courses and seven professional elective courses, which the student chooses at his/her own discretion from bachelor degree study programme Water Science and Environmental Engineering or among other professional elective courses proposed at the first cycle study programmes of UL FGG. Students are recommended to select courses from the areas of civil engineering in either municipal or traffic module, and from the area of geodesy and geoinformation.

Students may transfer 30 ECTS credits of the programme (one study semester, regardless of compulsory and elective units) from any other water science and environmental engineering programme in Slovenia or abroad, provided that UL FGG has a signed agreement with the institution in question.

Study programme courses –  Water Science and Environmental Engineering (BA)

Study of Water Science and Environmental Engineering is very broad and up-to-date. I live in a flood area, so I’ve always been interested in environmental issues. I can use the knowledge from the study in my everyday life and I believe that with this knowledge I can work in various fields.

Tilen Koranter, 1st year WSEE (MA)

All study programmes on Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering are internationally certified from 2015 to 2021.

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