MSc Environmental Impact Assessment & Management

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2027, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £13,200
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £28,100

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

Protecting the natural environment is a matter of fundamental importance to governments and communities world-wide, and environmental issues now permeate our legal and administrative systems. It is now widely accepted that the rise in environmental damage in recent decades is attributable largely to human activities, and that this is likely to have a serious impact not only on the environment, but also our current way of life. Action has been taken at UK, EU and international level to protect the environment in a number of ways, for example, imposing environmental standards on polluting entities, taxing harmful emissions and by-products through levies, trading schemes and other such market-based mechanisms and by promoting environmentally-friendly behaviour. In other words, the activities of government agencies, business corporations and individuals are all subject to various degrees and forms of regulation and management to ensure the protecction of the environment. 

• to appreciate the legal, institutional and policy frameworks which structure and regulate decision-making concerning the environment
• to investigate the role of law and regulation in securing environmental aims and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different regulatory mechanisms used in environmental law
• to explore the role of the courts in tackling environmental challenges

Lectures, Drop-in sessions, Padlet 'discussion board', group workshops

• Understand the different sources of environmental law
• Understand and critically evaluate the importance of sustainable development as an environnmental policy goal
• Develop an understanding of how the courts, through common law and climate litigation, can contribute to environmental protection

• Understand and critically evaluate the importance of sustainable development as an environmental policy goal
• Critically evaluate different regulatory techniques (such as command and control regulation, and economic instruments) that can be used to secure environmental protection aims, drawing on examples to illustrate

Consider, through the use of a case study on planning, EIA and public particiaption, the role of law in the development of renewable energy

• Assemble relevant information and subject it to critical legal analysis
• Engage in and cultivate reasoned legal and policy arguments
• Develop research skills in a legal context
• Develop communication skills by participating in small group discussions and working in collaboration with other students

Essay (3000 words) 100% weighting

Written feedback will be provided within 15 working days of submission of the assignment.

S. Bell, D. McGillivray, O. Pedersen, E. Lees and E. Stokes, Environmental Law (OUP, 9th ed, 2017)

E. Fisher, B. Lange and E. Scotford, Environmental Law: Text, Cases and Materials (OUP, 2nd ed, 2019)

J. Holder and M. Lee, Environmental Protection, Law and Policy: Text and Materials (CUP, 2nd ed, 2007)

R. Macrory, Regulation, Enforcement and Governance in Environmental Law (Hart Publishing, 2nd ed. 2014)

N. Gunningham, R. Kagan and D. Thornton, Shades of Green (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2003).

A. Mol, Sonnenfeld, D. And Spaargaren, G. The Ecological Modernisation Reader (Routledge, 2009).

M. Hajer The Politics of Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process (Clarendon Press, 1997).

N. Carter, The Politics of the Environment (Cambridge University Press, 2007)