In response to the growing public concern about environmental issues, the University Grant Committee (UGC) approved the establishment of a BSc degree programme in Environmental Science (ENS) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in the 1992/95 triennium. The programme has been jointly offered by the Departments of Biochemistry, Biology and Chemistry. Since the 90's, much effort has been directed towards the protection of the environment and the conservation of natural resources. This new environmental campaign significantly increases the demand for specialists and technologists to work on various types of environmental problems. The ENS Programme admitted its first batch of MPhil students in 1995, and the first PhD student enrolled in 1998. The Programme has since graduated over 250 proficient environmental scientists at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Prospects

The Programme employs a multidisciplinary approach to address problems in environmental science. Lecturing staff from the Departments of Biochemistry, Biology and Chemistry, as well as those from other related disciplines, participate in its teaching and research performances of its staff members are reviewed regularly by external experts who are internationally renowned scientists in environmental science. Over the years, the experts' reports serve as working documents for further refinement of the Programme. An Advisory Committee, composed of experts from the HKSAR government departments, industry and academic sectors, also provides advice on curricular matters, thus improving the relevance of the Programme to the need of Hong Kong in particular and that of the world in general.

Areas of research

Academic Links/Exchange

Some of the individual staff have academic link/exchange with local and overseas institutes sharing common interest in environmental science. In addition, Environmental Science has co-operated with the Centre for Environmental Policy & Resource Management of CUHK to conduct some research projects.