Master of Ecosystem Management and Conservation (MC-ECOSMC) // Attributes, outcomes and skills

Intended learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course, graduates should be able to:

• Understand the dynamics of a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems and the biological, environmental, and social processes that shape them and how these determine the patterns in our landscapes and their ecological functions and service provision.
• Consider ecosystems and landscapes as socialecological systems. This would include interactions among social and ecological elements at different spatial and temporal scales, as well as the effects of drivers such as climate change, economic and social change, management actions and event disturbances such as bushfires.
• Apply inter‐disciplinary skills and knowledge to develop innovative, integrated, ethical, culturally inclusive and evidence‐based approaches to landscape policy, planning, and management, including conservation.
• Develop and demonstrate skills in assessing, monitoring and analysing ecosystems, land‐uses, flora and fauna through innovative uses of spatial science and remotely sensed technologies and techniques.
• Critically analyse, evaluate and synthesise qualitative and quantitative data on natural resources, ecosystems and people, and apply these to a decision‐making process.
• Understand and integrate different and sometime competing issues into ecosystem and landscape management programs, such as: catchment hydrology, carbon sequestration, community participation, indigenous cultural heritage, bushfire behaviour and control, conservation of biodiversity, ecological restoration, and ecosystems for food, water and wood provision.
• Engage with, and manage effective relationships with, a wide range of stakeholders (individuals/communities/industry) in ecosystem management. This includes managing conflicts of values or interests and managing issues related to different forms of knowledge and power relations.

Generic skills

Graduates will have:

• A profound respect for truth, intellectual and professional integrity, and the ethics of scholarship;
• The capacity for independent critical thought, rational inquiry and self-directed learning and research;
• An ability to derive, interpret and analyse social, technical or economic information from primary and other sources;
• Awareness of and ability to utilise appropriate communication technology and methods for storage, management and analysis of data;
• Capacity for creativity and innovation through the application of skills and knowledge;
• Ability to integrate information across a relevant discipline to solve problems in applied situations;
• Highly developed computer-based skills to allow for effective on-line learning and communication;
• Highly developed oral communication skills to allow informed dialogue and liaison with individuals and groups from industry, government and the community;
• Highly developed written communication skills to allow informed dialogue with individuals and groups from industry, government and the community;
• An appreciation of social and cultural diversity from a regional to a global context;
• An ability to participate effectively as a member of a team; and
• An ability to plan work, use time effectively and manage small projects.

Graduate attributes

The Melbourne Experience enables our Graduates to become: