Sustainable Forest Management

Objective

In your forestry studies, you will acquire a broad knowledge of the sustainable use of forest resources. You will learn multi-objective forest planning, management and utilisation. Through your studies, you will learn how to take into account factors affecting climate change, biodiversity and the carbon cycle in forest nature and forest utilisation. You will learn how to use applications and open data in the forest sector. You will also be able to navigate in the field and apply your forestry skills in practice. The teaching emphasises teamwork, which will help you develop important working life skills. In addition, team learning gives you peer support from other students in learning new things.

Qualification provided by education

Most common work tasks in the field are among wood procurement, forest services, and planning or management of forest resources. Your work title could be for example forest expert, procurement supervisor, senior planning officer or forest entrepreneur.

Structure of studies

In the compulsory core studies, you will learn about forest nature, forest measurement, forest management, wood procurement, sustainable forest management and forest property management. After that, you will deepen your knowledge in optional, profiling studies, for example, on challenges and conflicts in the forestry sector, wood processing in future forest environments and projects working on changing topical issues.

After the first year, you can choose profiling studies according to your own interest. This a great way to mold the degree to suit your interests and future career plans! In the profiling studies, you can choose to deepen your knowledge for example in wood procurement, planning and management of forest resources and production of services in forestry, GIS, recreational usage of forests and renewable energy resources. You can also choose profiling studies from our other degree programmes in HAMK, or other higher education institutes in Finland or abroad. We offer you strong contacts to the industry and forestry stakeholders.

In Sustainable Forest Management, you will study in Evo campus, both independently and in teams with other students. We have a demonstration forest of 1800 hectares in Evo campus, right beside the classrooms, where you can observe forest areas and enjoy nature. The aim is to spend less time inside indoors and more outside, in the demonstration forest. For example, a lecturer can give you a task in the classroom, and after you will go into the demonstration forest with other students to work on that task. Practical learning in the nature goes on throughout the year, but as seasons change the amount of time spent in the nature is modified. This means that in the winter when there is snow in the ground, you’ll spend less time outdoors.