A postgraduate diploma is available for degree-holders who wish to gain further knowledge in a particular area of climate change. It is relevant to those engaged in planning for natural resources, economic and social development, and/or the natural environment, especially graduates working for governments or NGOs and are looking at enhancing their understanding of climate-related issues
Duration: Completion of a PgDipCC would normally take one year of full time study and requires successful completion of four 400-level courses. Part-time study is also available. All courses are offered Online (O), so it can be taken from anywhere.
Admission requirements:To be admitted to a postgraduate diploma, a person shall:
- Have obtained a USP’s bachelor’s degree with a GPA of at least 3.0 in the 200 and 300 level courses of the relevant disciplines;
- Have obtained a tertiary qualification deemed by the senate or its delegate to be equivalent to above;
- Have obtained a professional qualification deemed by Senate or its delegate to be equivalent to above;
- Have, in exceptional cases, demonstrated experience or achievement Senate or its delegates deems sufficient; or
- Have met the mature student admission criteria
Program requirements
- The candidate should complete a minimum of four courses at 400 level to qualify for the Postgraduate Diploma
- Candidate must take the two core courses for PG Dip-CC plus the other two from the list of approved optional courses
Pathways:
The Postgraduate Diploma is the normal entry qualification for the degree of the Master of Science
Courses:
PC414*: Climate Change: Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation
Semester: 1
Course Coordinator: Dr. Tammy Tabe
Course Description: This postgraduate course examines the risks posed to Pacific Islands by Climate Change and reviews the adaptation strategies to deal with those risks, both at national and community levels. The course is intended for people in the Pacific islands involved with medium-to-long term planning for natural resources, economic and social development, and/or the natural environment, especially graduates working in governments or NGOs who are not yet familiar with climate related issues but need to be so.
PC415*: Climate Science
Semester: 2
Course Coordinator: Prof. Elisabeth Holland
Course Description: This course provides important insights into the rapidly developing and fast moving realm of climate science among the future climate leaders of the Pacific to understand the scientific basis of the threats of the impacts of CC to develop appropriate measures to address and manage the challenges of the adverse impacts. This course navigates through new scientific evidences on our current scientific understanding of the earth’s climate including those which point at important tipping points leading to perhaps irreversible changes in major systems and ecosystems. The course also provides adequate skill in climatology of the region and the tools/methodology applied in the analyses and is thus useful for those intending to work with national meteorological services or other government agencies.
PC424: Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Assessment
Semester: 1
Course Coordinator: Dr. Helene Jacot Des Combes
Course Description: This course is designed to familiarize the learners with a broad understanding of the causes and impacts of disasters in the context of PICs and provide comprehensive knowledge on disasters, disaster preparedness, mitigation and rehabilitation as well as to carry out risk assessment and vulnerability analysis. The course provides guidance on strengthening institutional mechanisms for community mobilization/participation in disaster management. Students will develop better communication skills for disaster preparedness and disaster response in emergency situations with tools for meeting emergency health/medical requirements and understand the importance of incorporating gender-sensitive DM approaches in capacity building & mainstreaming towards effective programme/project development.
PC425: Environmental Impact Assessment/Strategic Environment Assessment
Semester: 2
Course Coordinator: Dr. Hilda Sakiti – Waqa
Course Description: The object of this course is to teach students how to effectively process Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of development proposals from strategic and project perspectives. A brief critical analysis of the social impact assessment process will be addressed and linked to the overall EIA/SEA process. It is adjunct to the specialist environmental skills developed in our undergraduate science, arts, business and law programs. Students will acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the best practice assessment process for achieving sustainable development whereby specialist skills can be effectively applied to ensure that development throughout the Pacific region is sustainable.
PC426: Pacific Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology in Relation to Climate Change
Semester: 2
Course Coordinator: Dr. Antoine De Ramon N’Yeurt
Course Description: This course is designed to familiarize with the causes and effects of climate change on terrestrial and marine ecosystems in an island setting, the importance of the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and linkage to peoples’ livelihood, food security and health. The course will enable one to understand the inter-linkages between climate change and ecology and how to strengthen institutional mechanisms and systems for mobilisation and participation of all stakeholders at various levels on the role of ecosystems in climate change mitigation and adaptation management. This course will also equip with tools for ecosystem based adaptation for climate change and help understand the importance of incorporating traditional and cultural approaches.
PC428: Tropical Meteorology
Semester: 1
Course Coordinator: Dr. Awnesh Singh
Course Description: The course provides and in-depth study of tropical atmospheric dynamics and processes. The course will cover atmospheric general circulation; the structure and behavior of weather systems; development, displacement and intensification of weather systems; key characteristics of the tropical atmosphere including convection, boundary layer processes, local and diurnal weather phenomena, mesoscale tropical systems, tropical storm structure, and energetics, and tropical cyclone development. The course is designed to provide a quantitative in depth understanding of key atmospheric processes and dynamics central to climate change in the region. It is an ideal course for students studying climate change science or interested in weather forecasting.