TEACHINGS ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS IN GEOGRAPHY REFLECTING DEMANDS OF THE WORKING PRACTICE: A GERMAN CASE STUDY

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are applied in many project approval procedures, and many experts from various disciplines are engaged in this, among them environmental consultants and geography graduates. In this paper, teaching on EIA in German geography programmes is analysed and evaluated with respect to the demands of the working practice. The results are used to advice on further environmental assessment related teaching programmes. The analysis reveals the small number of geography programmes teaching EIA at universities, a large breadth of teaching, and discrepancies between teaching and actual demands from the profession. Agreement between teaching and working practice exists only in some areas, e.g. with respect to knowledge on EIA processes, knowledge on environmental factors considered, and the minor importance of the history of EIA. Finally, conclusions are drawn for teaching EIA, based on the demands from practitioners as well as results from the literature. The teaching-practice-gap is discussed.