BASc Education Studies and Global Sustainable Development

Bachelor of Arts & Sciences (BASc)
Three years full-time programme
Joint honours degree
Study abroad & work placement opportunities
Education is essential in enabling a more sustainable future. It is a fundamental tool in the promotion and achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and Goal 4 specifically sets targets for Quality Education. Our degree will allow you to examine the relationship between education and sustainable development and the associated challenges facing the education sector both in the UK and overseas. It represents a flagship contribution to UNESCO’s international Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) agenda.
Duration*
- 3 years full-time; or
- 3 years full-time with integrated study abroad programme; or
- 4 years full-time with intercalated year spent either studying abroad or on work placement.
Entry requirements
A level:
- AAB
- You will also need grade B/grade 6 in English and Mathematics at GCSE
IB:
- 36 points to include English and Mathematics
For more information about entry requirements please see here.
UCAS code
CATS
An honours degree requires a minimum of 360 CATS during the course, comprising 120 CATS per year.
Qualification
Bachelor of Arts and Sciences (BASc).
Location of study
University of Warwick
Tuition fees
Find out more about fees and funding
Scholarship and Bursaries
Warwick Undergraduate Global Excellence Scholarship 2022
We believe there should be no barrier to talent. That's why we are committed to offering a scholarship that makes it easier for gifted, ambitious international learners to pursue their academic interests at one of the UK's most prestigious universities. This new scheme will offer international fee-paying students 250 tuition fee discounts ranging from full fees to awards of £13,000 to £2,000 for the full duration of your Undergraduate degree course. Find out more about the Warwick Undergraduate Global Excellence Scholarship 2022.
Find out more about scholarships and bursaries.
Additional course costs
There may be costs associated with other items or services such as academic texts, course notes, and trips associated with your course. Students who choose to complete a work placement or study abroad will pay reduced tuition fees for their third year.
* You will be automatically enrolled on the three-year course, however, you have the option to change to a four-year course with an intercalated year in your third year. During the intercalated year, you may pursue a study abroad programme or a work placement (subject to you meeting departmental academic requirements).

Are you passionate about examining the relationship between education, sustainable development, and the challenges facing the education sector? Are you enthused by finding new ways to promote learning about sustainability challenges?
This course seeks to prepare you to become Global Citizens with a conscience, equipped with knowledge and understanding of the key issues of sustainable development from across a broad range of disciplines.
Using a problem-based and solutions-focused approach, you will work with peers from other Global Sustainable Development (GSD) courses to explore complex issues, their implications and limitations and their inter-connectivity.
You will think critically and creatively about contemporary problems of global significance and explore ethically and morally complex areas in the search for positive interventions with a beneficial impact. Embracing new opinions from your peers across the world, we will challenge you to become an active participant in your own learning.
You can enhance your skills and studies through optional work placements, study abroad, and certificates.
"Education must be a core component of the Sustainable Development agenda"
"This degree offers students an in-depth understanding of the contemporary social-economic and environmental challenges that face our world, but also how education might be conceived and practiced, in a manner that finally realises its long touted potential to respond. Education must be a core component of the Sustainable Development Agenda, and this degree will well equip students to make sure of this!"
Senior Teaching Fellow, GSD
First Year
Core GSD modules
- Economic Principles of Global Sustainable Development (GD104)
- Social Principles of Global Sustainable Development (GD106)
- Environmental Principles of Global Sustainable Development (GD105)
- Global Sustainable Development Project (GD107)
Core Education Studies modules
Certificates
Second Year
(remaining at Warwick)
Optional core GSD module
You will choose one module from the following list:
Optional core Education Studies modules
You will choose two modules from the following list:
Optional module(s) with a GSD focus
- Approved optional module(s) with a GSD focus, including from other departments across the University
Optional Education Studies module(s)
- Approved module(s) offered by any department in the University which has an Education Studies focus
Certificates
Second Year
(integrated year abroad with Terms 2 and 3 at Monash University)
Term 1
Optional core GSD module
You will choose one module from the following list:
Optional module with a GSD focus
- Approved optional module with a GSD focus, including from other departments across the University
Optional Education Studies module(s)
- Approved module(s) offered by any department in the University which has an Education Studies focus
Terms 2 and 3
Students spend Terms 2 and 3 abroad at Monash University, studying relevant modules. Students are required to register on the module Study Abroad Part-Year (GD200) which recognises the period of study abroad.
Final Year
Core GSD module
Optional module(s) with a GSD focus
- Approved optional module(s) with a GSD focus, including from other departments across the University
Optional Education Studies modules
- Approved module(s) offered by any department in the University which has an Education Studies focus
Explore the lists of GSD and Education Studies modules
Your university experience could be a truly global one by studying overseas. You can access study abroad opportunities via two routes:
1. Study abroad in terms 2 and 3 of your second year
Read the transcript for this video.
You could spend terms 2 and 3 of your second year studying abroad at our Department's partner institution, Monash University, home to the world-leading Monash Sustainable Development Institute. Our integrated programme is specifically structured so you can spend time abroad without having to extend the overall length of your course. Your academic achievements abroad will count towards your degree awarded by Warwick, meaning your studies will be both rewarding and rewarded! You will continue to pay your course fees in full to Warwick and you will also continue to receive your student loan, if eligible.
2. Year-long study abroad
You may, alternatively, choose to spend an intercalated year at one of Warwick's many other partner institutions across the world. You'll spend your first and second years at Warwick, studying abroad in your third year. You'll then return to Warwick for your final year. Your year abroad won't count towards your final mark, but it will be recorded on your Higher Education Achievement Report, giving you the freedom to take chances with your module choice and push yourself outside of your comfort zone with your learning. Please see here for more information about the intercalated study abroad opportunity.
Find out more about your options for studying abroad.
Read the transcript for this video.
In the GSD Department, we have a dedicated Employability and Placement Manager who’ll provide you with one-to-one careers guidance. They work in collaboration with employers, so you’ll be supported in securing appropriate work placements. You’ll have access to specialist pre-placement advice, guidance and preparation, as well as on-going support during your placement.
As a GSD graduate, you have a wide range of career pathways that are available to you. This is demonstrated by the variety of work placements that our students have completed with employers from different sectors.
Our students have been successful in securing work placements with employers from the private, public, and third sectors. This includes:
- Research Institutions
- Governmental Bodies
- Non-Governmental Organisations
- Intelligence Agencies
- Housing
- Sustainable Consultancies
- Finance
Our students have undertaken diverse roles such as:
- Marketing Assistant
- Sustainability Officer
- Intelligence Analyst
- Researchers
- Teaching
- Human Resources
You will learn valuable transferable skills that will help you with your employment prospects including:
- Analysing and problem solving: Through your study of economic principles and models, you’ll learn how to extract the essential features of complex systems, providing useable frameworks for evaluation
- Critical thinking: Assess arguments, make judgements, formulate reasoned debates and generate feasible solutions
- Communication: Develop advanced communication skills that enable you to communicate with a variety of audiences and in different settings
- Research: An integrated programme of research skills training, teaching you how to source, evaluate and use different forms of information and data
- Organisation: Through a rigorous assessment schedule and a compulsory dissertation module in your final year, you’ll learn the essentials of time management, prioritisation and how to be well organised
- Collaboration: You’ll have plenty of opportunities to work with others and nurture your emotional intelligence, developing a professional attitude
Single honours
Joint honours
- Economic Studies and Global Sustainable Development
- Global Sustainable Development and Business Studies
- Hispanic Studies and Global Sustainable Development
- History and Global Sustainable Development
- Life Sciences and Global Sustainable Development
- Philosophy and Global Sustainable Development
- Politics, International Studies and Global Sustainable Development
- Psychology and Global Sustainable Development
- Sociology and Global Sustainable Development
- Theatre and Performance Studies and Global Sustainable Development
88.6%
Overall satisfaction for all GSD students (single and joint honours) at Warwick
92.6%
Overall satisfaction for single honours GSD students at Warwick
(The National Student Survey 2021)