Chartered Institute accreditation for countryside course

Posted 21 November 2013

The quality and relevance of Harper Adams University’s BSc Countryside and Environmental Management course has been recognised by the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM)

The degree course received official CIEEM accreditation before staff, students and invited guests at a recent countryside careers event. Dr David Parker, Past President of CIEEM, presented the accreditation certificate to Simon Irvin, Countryside, Environment and Wildlife Courses Manager.

Mr Irvin said: “This accreditation is an important and first step towards a professional working relationship between CIEEM and Harper Adams University, under which I would like to see all three of our course programmes given CIEEM accreditation.

“CIEEM accreditation is recognition of the quality of our courses and their relevance to potential employers.  Our graduates will have an additional advantage in the job market because employers are increasingly looking at undergraduate curricula when recruiting staff.

“We strongly encourage countryside students at Harper Adams to join CIEEM because personal membership also offers fantastic opportunities to communicate with key ecological and environmental practitioners and engage in knowledge exchange, professional training and networking.”

Mr Irvin gave his thanks to Mr Parker and a series of invited speakers for giving up their time to talk to the students. The careers event included presentations by Chris Hogarth, Natural England Team Leader for Shropshire; Kate Dewey, Planning & Conservation Officer, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust; Cody Levine, Ecologist, Worcestershire County Council; Paul Allen, Countryside officer, Wyre Forest District Council and Jess Batchelor, Ecologist, Arup.