Programmes

About Course

MODULE SYNOPSES

Level I

ESH 1101 Introduction to the Physical Environment

Relationship between Geomorphology and Environmental Science and Health. Critical questions in geomorphology. Methods of study.  Structure of the earth’s crust. Formation of the earth’s crust. Rock cycles. Properties of rocks. Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Plate tectonics. Structural landforms. Mass wasting and weathering. Geologic hazards. Geologic work of streams. Fluvial processes. Atmospheric circulation Systems. Inversions. Cloud formation. Types of clouds. Weather. Storms. Tsunamis; Hydrological cycles.  Precipitation; Infiltration. Interflow. Overland flow. Evapotranspiration; Hydrographs; Global climate; Climate change. Global warming. Greenhouse gases. Ozone depletion. ITZ. El Nino (ENSO). Drought.

ESH 1104 Radiation and Pollution*

The structure of matter, radioactivity and radiation, sources and types of ionizing radiation, natural and manmade radiation, nuclear energy etc, radiation units, biological effects of radiation, maximum permissible doses, radiation detection and measurement, the external radiation hazard, the internal radiation hazard, radioactive wastes and its disposal, environmental radiation surveillance and monitoring.

ILI 1105 Communication Skills*

Theories of communication will be addressed in order to develop effective speaking, writing, listening and reading strategies, specifically in English language for university-level competency. Additionally, the course will seek to develop basic competencies in information and communication technology (ICT) and use of NUST e-learning platforms. It is essential also that students grasp the concept of information literacy and develop this quality, which will greatly assist in assignments and research. The Information Literacy Skills (ILS) component will involve hands on training by NUST Library staff. In the ILS section, students will learn to devise effective search strategies, use electronic search engines and e-resources, and cite and reference appropriately.  Instructors will expect to see these competencies in all assignments.

ESH 1107 Introduction to Ecology

Principles of Ecology: Biological organization; Ecosystem concept; Concept of the Biosphere; interrelationships between biotic and abiotic factors. Energy flow: nutrient cycles in ecosystems. Ecology of communities: Terrestrial Biomes and Aquatic Biomes. Plant and Animal succession. Species diversity: Measures of species diversity; Calculations of species diversity. Wildlife biology: Biological potential; Reproduction factors; Mortality; Ageing criteria; Wildlife diseases; Types of carrying capacities; Behavioural interaction: Home range; Territorialism; Dispersal; Niche selection; Guilds; Indicator species. Wildlife conservation.

SCH 1117 Fundamentals of Chemistry

This module teaches about the periodic table and how each atom combines to form elements on the periodic table. The module provides a foundation of knowledge in inorganic, organic and physical chemistry and there is a strong emphasis on the application of the subject.

SCS 1113 Computer Applications*

Overview of digital devices: The computer and its variants (i.e., desktops, laptops, portable devices, servers, and high-performance computers). Data and Storage media: data definition, structured, semi structured and unstructured data. Big data. Universal storage bus, hard disk drives, solid state drives, databases and database management systems. Overview of computer software; classification of software, word processors, spread sheets, presentation packages, statistical packages, internet and e-mail services, management information systems, web applications, Data manipulation packages. Data analysis applications. Data presentation applications. Data visualisation applications. Computer communications; wired and wireless networks, computers as decision making tools.  Computer and information security; computer etiquette, emerging computer technologies. Basic software development tools and techniques.

ESH 1206 Energy Resources Planning and Conservation

Global energy resources, renewable and non-renewable sources of energy, hydroelectric power, geothermal, solar biomass etc, environmental consequences of overuse of fossil fuels, energy conservation strategies, technology and problems, problems of shortage and high cost of fossil fuel in Zimbabwe in relation to development efforts, alternative energy sources.

SBB 1207 General Microbiology

This introductory course deals with the study of different prokaryotic organisms, their morphology, anatomy, classifications, ecology, metabolism and control along with a brief survey of human diseases caused by them.  Laboratory work would emphasize their identification and growth methods.

ESH 1208 Introduction to Freshwater Environment

Fresh water habitats, origin and physical/chemical Characteristics of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and swamps, the biology of aquatic organisms, exploitation of fresh water resources, pollution, conservation and management of wet lands, national parks and reserves, value in national economy.

ESH 1209 Principles of Sociology and Psychology

Sociology as a science, social organisation, roles of family, social pathology, juvenile delinquency, sexual abuse, alcoholism, addiction to drugs.  Customs and ethnic groups crowd behaviour, group dynamics, individual and collective roles. Psychology: Human relationship in the fulfilment of the environmental (health) officer’s duties, the development of personality and leadership, personality types, motives, tension adjustment techniques, basic principles in dealing with people.  Principles of industrial psychology.  Methods to identifying the human and social consequences of man-made alterations in the natural and physical environment.  Systematic appraisal of the impacts on the day-to-day quality of life of persons and communities whose environment is affected by a development or policy change.  Squatter and displaced persons.

ESH 1210 Population and Development

Development, Urban geography: spatial structure of cities; Patterns and dynamics of population; rural to urban migration; urban to rural migration; Population and health. Politics: policies; urban agriculture; urban open spaces; transport (road, airlinks, railway, water, animal, pushcarts); energy: policy, sources and pollution problems. Population geography: Theories of location and organization; Factors contributing to population pressures, growth, migrations. Patterns of world population. Patterns of Zimbabwe’s population. Poverty cycle: degradation of natural resources. Disaster management.

ESH 1211 Environmental and Health Education

Defining the concept environment; Environmental problems, crises and emerging responses; From Stockholm to Rio: Stockholm Declaration, Tbilisi Principles, Sustainable development, Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 (particularly Chapter 36); What is environmental education; Environmental and health education theories and processes; Methods of identifying environmental and health issues; Values and benefits; Issues for the educators and facilitators; Communication and delivery tools; Social marketing; Curriculum development in environmental and health education; Evaluation and selected fieldwork (including visiting environmental education and health centres); Environmental Education in the SADC and the  Gaborone Declaration, UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development; Environmental Education in Zimbabwe (particularly the Environmental Education Policy of 2003).

Level II

CBU2115 Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Origins and Concept of entrepreneurship, Cultural diversity of entrepreneurship. Factors influencing success of entrepreneurship. Creativity and Innovation - Disruptive, incremental and open innovations, Nurturing and managing innovations.

ESH 2108 Environmental Economics

Definitions and concepts: economics, environmental and resource economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, environmental endowment etc; The role of Economics in Environmental Management: global economic context, trade liberalisation, development priorities, stabilisation and structural adjustments, sectoral development (tourism, agriculture, forestry, mining etc); Theory and its policy implications: social welfare and market failure, market failure and policy instruments; Environmental regulation and instruments: theory of regulation, market-based instruments, voluntary or self-regulation, command and control instruments; Property and tenure systems: Historical context in Africa, tenure and economic environmental performance; Focusing on cost: recurrent, cost per unit of input/output, cost-effectiveness, estimating costs for environmental degradation, adjusting national income accounts; Evaluation of benefits and comparing costs and benefits; Economic measurements of environmental impacts: objective valuation approaches, subjective valuation approaches.

ESH 2111 Disease Prevention and Control

Overview of various categories of pests and their medical, veterinary and economic importance. Pesticide categories: Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, molluscicides, rodenticides. Vector based diseases and vector control. Disease to include those of importance to Africa and in particular Zimbabwe and the region e.g., malaria, trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, fascioliasis. Control of non-vector-based diseases such as taenia, hookworm, trichuris and strongyloides etc. Pharmacological basis of treatment and intervention programmes.  Identification of the emergence of pesticide resistance and pesticide resistance patterns. Communicable diseases of importance: cholera, tuberculosis, dysentery, scabies etc.  Disease outbreaks and their control measures. Emerging diseases e.g., SARS and bird flu, haemorrhagic fevers, etc. and strategies for their control.

ESH 2114 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Sources of water, water uses, factors affecting water consumption, relative values of water, water as an economic good, water as a social good.  Water demand management practices, economic instruments, legal instruments, unaccounted for water, pre-conditions of water demand management.  Water treatment systems: characteristics of water, choice of water treatment practices, coagulation and flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection.  Water treatment in rural areas: boiling, filtration.  Sanitation systems: onsite sanitation, design and operation, ecological sanitation, septic tanks, ventilated improved pit latrine, aqua privy toilets, conservancy latrines.

ESH 2115 Occupational Health and Safety

Introduction to occupational health; Hazardous installations; Emergency exposure limits; Accidents causation and prevention; Stressors: Identification, evaluation and control: Physical (noise, heat, barometric, illumination), chemical, ergonomical, biological, psychological; Risk assessment and management; Emergency preparedness and response; Job safety analysis (HAZOP: Hazard Operatability); Confined space management; Fire; Safety communication; Safety audit; Safety legislation; Safety systems (NOSA, OSHA18000); Practical; Threshold limit values; Safety Programme management;  ILO Conventions; Occupational epidemiology and statistics; Practical and occupational hygiene field work; Occupational hygiene legislation.

ESH 2116 Environmental Management Systems*

Environmental Management Standards (to include the British BS 7750, European Union EMAS and the ISO 14000 series), Cleaner Production; Industrial ecology; Eco-efficiency; Ecological footprints; Introduction to SHE; Sustainability indicators; Corporate Governance and Sustainability reporting (introduction to the Global Reporting Initiative, UN, King II Report and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Sustainability Indicators); Critical Review of Corporate Reporting and Trends in Environmental Management (review of selected company reports), and Field trip to selected companies resembling good and bad practice corporate responsibility in terms of sustainability reporting.

ESH 2203 Management of Solid and Hazardous Waste

Origin, nature, collection, transportation and disposal or storage of solid and hazardous chemicals; resource recovery; waste and health; administrative and legal aspects; trans-frontier transport; enforcement of waste management regulations, zero waste concept and Selected cases of waste product regulation. Students to visit rubbish dumps and landfill sites within and around Bulawayo and observe the sorting, transportation and other processes related to waste management.

SORS 2210 Applied Statistics for Biological Sciences

Introduction to statistics, descriptive statistics, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion. Presentation of data. Probability distributions, discrete probability distributions, Binomial, Poisson and Hyper-geometric distribution. Continuous probability distributions, Uniform, Normal and Exponential distributions. Hypothesis testing. Tests concerning means and difference between means. z and t distributions. One sided z and t tests, two sample z and t tests, paired comparisons. Confidence intervals based on z and t statistics for a single mean and the difference between means. Chi-Square test. Chi distribution, contingency tables.

ESH 2211 Research Methodology

Research Philosophy and paradigms. Scientific Knowledge perspective and acquisition; Positivism, interpretivism, Critical research. Classification of research; Measurement and hypothesis testing; Purpose of doing research; Scientific and other methods of conducting research; types of data: primary and secondary data; the research process: formulating research problems, data collection procedures; data processing and analysis (application of data processing packages and biometrics); report writing; different kinds of research designs such as survey (including questionnaires - type of questionnaires; Factors affecting response); Interviews (Structured and unstructured interviews, face-to-face, telephone, focus groups); observations, including use of photos and video; experimentation and quasi-experimentation; consumption of research results; ethics and validity in research; Writing for academic publishing: type of academic publications, editorial requirements, peer reviewing and analysis of academic articles etc.

ESH 2213 Food Hygiene

Food Hygiene (sanitary operational procedures, good manufacturing practice); Food Microbiology; Biochemistry; Food Poisoning; Planning of Food Service Premises; Production, contamination, preservation, spoilage and inspection of the different food types; Food Premises Auditing; Food quality and safety assurance, ISO 9000-1; Food Hygiene Management System, SABS 049:1989, SAZ; HACCP in Practice; Nutrition; Food Legislation.

ESH 2214   Principles of Ecotoxicology

Toxins and their effects. Classification of toxins. Effects of toxins at physiological (organ and cellular) levels. Inhibition of nerve impulses. Endocrine disruption. Genotoxicity. Toxicity testing. Animal, plant and microbial assays.

CBU2215 Project Management

Project development: Initiating the Project. Objectives, Project Planning and Control system, Organising the Project. Managing risks. Project Management. Project Control Process; Control Communication, WBS, Networks, Conflicts and resolution.

Level III

ESH 3001 Industrial Attachment

Placement of students into relevant organisations for a period equivalent to two academic semesters. Student are taken through the practical application of theoretical knowledge gained at these workplaces in line with the organisation’s goals under the guidance and mentorship of the Industrial Attachment Supervisor. An academic supervisor is allocated to the student and two visits are conducted to assess the students’ performance.

Level IV

ESH 4010 Research Project

The student Shall, under supervision and guidance, carry out an independent investigation into a problem of his/her choice that is relevant to the degree being offered. He/she Shall collect, analyse, interpret and write-up a thesis to illustrate the understanding of the environmental issues relating to the problem. The report must demonstrate the relationship between theoretical knowledge and its application to field situations.

ESH 4102 Environmental Law and Policy

What is law? Where do laws come from? - common law and legislation, enforcing the law – courts, civil and criminal law, punishment and the criminal justice system, administrative law; What is policy?, stakeholders in environmental policy formulation and implementation; complexity and uncertainty in environmental policy; theories of policy formulation, implementation and evaluation; International environmental law (what is international environmental law?; international environmental law and the Zimbabwean Constitution; Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Act of 2002; Selected environmental management laws and policies of Zimbabwe; and Selected multilateral environmental laws and policies (conventions, treaties, agreements and protocols), particularly from the SADC region.

ESH 4105 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing I

Spatial concepts: maps; features; scale. Spatial relationships: connectivity; adjacency; proximity; intersection; intersection. Referencing data: coordinate systems; datums; map projection. Principles of GIS: Definition of GIS; history of GIS; Components of GIS; GIS hardware: spatial and attribute data; GIS data models; raster data; vector data. GIS data input: capture/preparation and integration; digitizing; scanning. Satellite Navigation Systems: Global Positioning System (GPS, Galileo); Touring of GIS lab; GIS analysis functions; organizing data for geographical analysis. Principles of Remote Sensing: methods; sensing devices; earth resources satellites; Imagery, Photogrammetry.

ESH 4106 Biotechnology and the Environment

Introduction to Biotechnology, application of Biotechnology to living organisms and industrial processes, food and energy production, modern concepts of gene, enhancer promoter and structural part, gene manipulation techniques for increased agricultural production and improved animal and human health.  Genomic and DNA libraries, Antibodies and hybridoma techniques, microbial ecology, bio-geochemical cycles, agrobacteriam/rhisobium plant interactions, bio degradation of bio compounds, engineering microbes for environmental management, environmental implications of biotechnology, release of GMOs into the environment, genetically modified foods, health effects international regulations.

ESH 4121 Wastewater Management

Sources of wastewater:  Wastewater characteristics (Industrial, domestic and municipal), wastewater conveyance systems. Methods of treating industrial wastewater: Water-borne systems without connection to sewerage systems: septic tanks, construction of septic tanks, disposal of septic tank effluent.  Water - borne sewerage systems: Biological filters, activated sludge systems, biological nutrients removal systems, wetland systems, waste stabilisation ponds.  Advanced wastewater treatment: pathogen removal, toxic substance removal.  Wastewater re-use: forms of wastewater re-use, barriers to waste-water re-use.

ESH 4202 Meat Hygiene and Technology

Meat processing; Canning procedure and technology; Meat inspection; Abattoir planning and construction; Abattoir management and practice; Abattoir legislation and administration; Meat legislation; Practicals.

ESH 4214 Epidemiology

Epidemiology of Environmental diseases in human populations: physical and biological agents, pathogenesis, agent host environmental interaction and control; communicable diseases of importance; purpose and methods of investigating epidemiology; important variables and attributes; population samples; field work techniques; Endemic and Epidemic Health Problems; Health Indicators, Analysis and presentation of Epidemiological statistics; Risk factor analysis; Basic Biostatistics (terminology and basic concepts, descriptive and inferential statistics, calculation of statistical measures, interpret and evaluate statistics reported in literature), occupational and environmental epidemiology, clinical epidemiology, epidemiology and disease prevention.

ESH 4221 Climate Change and Adaptation in Semi-Arid Lands

Geography of arid and semi-Arid lands causes and rates of desertification. The origins and causation of climate change and its role in desertification. The climate change intervention strategies at international level, linkage to national policies and local level practice.  Climate change impacts on the hydrological cycle and the mitigation. Understanding environmental change. Impacts of environmental change on plants, animals, agriculture and aquatic ecosystem system.  The adaptation strategies which can be applied. Government policies and development intervention. Natural resources management under conditions of common pool resources in semi-arid lands and sustainable utilisation of resources, particular attention to Africa wildlife resources with case studies drawn from wide range of countries including Zimbabwe Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania. Conflict resolution under condition of resource scarcity

ESH 4223 Environmental Impact Assessment Defining EIA, Concepts and terms in EIA; Statutory provisions of EIA within the SADC Region and Zimbabwe; Introduction to the EIA process; Screening; scoping; impact identification; impact assessment (techniques and analysis tools); mitigation measures; the EIA report; draft EIA review; and Selected EIA case studies from the SADC region and Zimbabwe (including programmes, projects and policies such as those aimed towards land reforms). Students to undertake partial EIAs from selected projects within and around Bulawayo.

Electives (Choose 1)

ESH 4213 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing II

Standards for collecting and manipulating data; Metadata management; GIS and the Law; GIS and modelling; GIS software (Open source, commercial packages: ArcGIS, Mapinfo, GRASS, ILWIS etc); Applications of GIS: health; natural resources management (LCLU change); rural/urban planning; environmental management; wetlands monitoring; global urban population; pollution; disaster monitoring; modelling and mitigation; Remote Sensing: platforms; software (ERDAS, ENVI etc); modelling; Applications of Remote sensing: LCLU monitoring & modelling (in mining, agriculture, forestry, biodiversity conservation; Monitoring, modelling and mitigation.

ESH 4217 Environmental Port Health

The Public Health Act and Port Health Regulations; Trans- boundary disease control (International health regulations, infectious disease control, epidemiology, emergency preparedness and response, disinfection); Hazardous Substances (legislation, clearance, handling and storage); Pest and Vermin Control (disinfection and disinfestations, de-ratting and Parasitology); Port waste management systems; information management; Plant protection; Animal health.

ESH 4218 Environmental Ecotoxicology

Toxicological effects at organism community and population levels. Air pollution and its effects on aquatic ecosystems. Terrestrial pollution. Ground level and underground. Pesticide use and the environment. Sources and disposal of radioactive wastes. GM foods and the environment. Safe disposal of waste. Ecological biochemistry- biological warfare in ecosystems. Experimentation in environmental toxicology: species responses to environmental pollution.

ESH 4220 Ecological Techniques

Quantitative analysis of forests, grassland and rangeland vegetation, measurements of productivity in terrestrial and aquatic environments, (emphasis here is on terrestrial as aquatic would have been covered under fresh water), measurements of physical and chemical parameters of the environment, hydro botanical methods, ecological mapping, monitoring and modelling, remote sensing.

ESH 4222 Urbanisation and Health

The aim is to Environmental Health/Science students in the field of development and housing issues in developing countries and more specifically, Zimbabwe.  Topics to be covered: The regional, town and country planning act, urban housing, housing standards and enforcement and health effects of Housing conditions (with special reference to the housing and housing standards act, housing hygiene, topics in building technology, model building by laws.