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30 December 2020 The Online MSc in Sustainable Mountain Development at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland: Experiences and Impacts
Martin F. Price, Rosalind Bryce
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Abstract

Since 2004, the University of the Highlands and Islands, in Scotland, has delivered an online MSc in sustainable mountain development (SMD). Students have the choice of exiting from the course with an MSc, a postgraduate diploma, or a postgraduate certificate. This paper first describes the history and delivery of the course, complemented with statistics on past and current students. This is followed by a presentation, analysis, and discussion of the results of an email survey of the 62 people who have gained a qualification from the course and could be contacted, achieving a response rate of 81%. The survey gathered information about each individual's motivations for taking the degree; benefits perceived with regard to its online nature; subsequent education; current location and employment; and ways in which the course had enabled them to contribute to SMD. Many quotations from graduates are presented, in response to previous findings that it has been difficult to evaluate long-term impacts of education for sustainable development. The paper concludes with some lessons learned from 15 years of experience.

© 2020 Price and Bryce. This open access article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Please credit the authors and the full source.
Martin F. Price and Rosalind Bryce "The Online MSc in Sustainable Mountain Development at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland: Experiences and Impacts," Mountain Research and Development 40(4), D21-D30, (30 December 2020). https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-20-00020.1
Received: 1 October 2020; Accepted: 1 November 2020; Published: 30 December 2020
KEYWORDS
education for sustainable development (ESD)
master's degree
online education
postgraduate education
sustainable mountain development (SMD)
University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)
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