{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T22:49:19Z","timestamp":1792104559153,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":12,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792022400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792022400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Environ Sci Pollut Res"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>In the academic year 2024\/25, the EuChemS Division on Chemistry and the Environment (DCE) conducted a Europe-wide survey of higher education programmes that include Environmental Chemistry, either as the principal discipline or as embedded content in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary curricula. Information on 300 programmes was collected from universities in 31 countries, i.e. 113 at the 1st, 156 at the 2nd and 31 at the 3rd study level. Respectively, 42%, 35% and 19% of the programmes shared details on the contents, teaching tools used, needs and future plans, while the rest of the responding programmes shared only basic information. With basic information on additional 159 1st and 2nd study level programmes based on web search by the authors (mostly for non-responsive countries), in total, 428 programmes at the 1st and the 2nd study level were identified. Since response rate varied dramatically across countries, the representativeness was severely undermined the findings for Europe as a whole. From the information collected from programmes which responded, it was found that multidisciplinary and\/or environmental compartment-related approaches are present in programmes\u2019 design early, even from 1st level of education and more diverse at the 2nd level. Environmental Chemistry is taught in science programmes containing the terms \u2018environment(-al)\u2019, \u2018Chemistry\u2019, \u2018Geoscience\u2019 and \u2018Toxicology\u2019, but also quite frequently in engineering programmes. The water, climate, protection and sustainability themes are very common. A wide variety of programmes clearly reflects the importance of knowledge about the behaviour and effects of chemicals (including accompanying substances and waste products) in the environment for the training of experts in a variety of professions and occupational fields. The analysis of the contents of programmes with Environmental Chemistry as their principal discipline suggests that there is no uniform understanding of what exactly constitutes the discipline as a main or important topic within an interdisciplinary curriculum, most probably as a consequence of very broad discipline\u2019s boundaries. Greater consistency and better comparability of the content, skills and qualifications offered by degree programmes to be acquired therein could be achieved through a coordinated effort which would better define core contents.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-026-38307-5","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T22:28:33Z","timestamp":1792103313000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Environmental Chemistry in higher education across Europe"],"prefix":"10.1007","author":[{"given":"Ivana","family":"Ivan\u010dev-Tumbas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ester","family":"Heath","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2313-0628","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gerhard","family":"Lammel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"38307_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"329","DOI":"10.1007\/s10311-016-0601-3","volume":"15","author":"H Ali","year":"2017","unstructured":"Ali H, Kahn E (2017) Environmental chemistry in the twenty-first century. Environ Chem Lett 15:329\u2013346. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10311-016-0601-3","journal-title":"Environ Chem Lett"},{"key":"38307_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"946","DOI":"10.1057\/s41307-021-00242-0","volume":"35","author":"Y Cai","year":"2022","unstructured":"Cai Y, L\u00f6nnqvist A (2022) Overcoming the barriers to establishing interdisciplinary degree programmes: the perspective of managing organisational innovation. High Educ Policy 35:946\u2013968. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1057\/s41307-021-00242-0","journal-title":"High Educ Policy"},{"key":"38307_CR3","unstructured":"DCE (2024) Division of Chemistry and the Environment (DCE) of the European Chemical Society. EuChemS-DCE survey on representation of environmental chemistry in programmes of higher education, https:\/\/www.euchems.eu\/dce-survey-on-ec-in-highereducation\/"},{"key":"38307_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"569","DOI":"10.1080\/13562517.2016.1273211","volume":"22","author":"O Gantogtokh","year":"2017","unstructured":"Gantogtokh O, Quinlan KM (2017) Challenges of designing interdisciplinary postgraduate curricula: case studies of interdisciplinary master\u2019s programmes at a research-intensive UK university. Teach High Educ 22:569\u2013586. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/13562517.2016.1273211","journal-title":"Teach High Educ"},{"key":"38307_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1306","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sbspro.2012.05.292","volume":"46","author":"LK Gudeva","year":"2012","unstructured":"Gudeva LK, Dimova V, Daskalovska N, Trajkova F (2012) Designing descriptors of learning outcomes for higher education qualification. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 46:1306\u20131311","journal-title":"Procedia Soc Behav Sci"},{"key":"38307_CR6","first-page":"126","volume":"31","author":"G Lammel","year":"2025","unstructured":"Lammel G, Ivan\u010dev-Tumbas I (2025) Umweltchemie in Studieng\u00e4ngen in Deutschland. Mitt Umweltchem \u00d6kotox 31:126\u2013130","journal-title":"Mitt Umweltchem \u00d6kotox"},{"key":"38307_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7211","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-014-2737-7","volume":"21","author":"G Lammel","year":"2014","unstructured":"Lammel G, Jover Comas E, Ivan\u010dev-Tumbas I (2014) Higher education in environmental sciences with chemistry emphasis: bachelor and master programmes in Europe. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21:7211\u20137218. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11356-014-2737-7","journal-title":"Environ Sci Pollut Res"},{"key":"38307_CR8","unstructured":"QAA (2022) Quality assurance agency for higher education, subject benchmark statements, UK. https:\/\/www.qaa.ac.uk\/the-quality-code\/subject-benchmark-statements"},{"key":"38307_CR9","unstructured":"Saviano M, Polese F, Caputo F, Walletzk\u00fd L (2016) A T-shaped model for rethinking higher education programs, 19th Toulon-Verona International Conference Excellence in Services, Huelva, Spain, 5\u20136 September 2016, Conference Proceedings (ISBN 9788890432767) https:\/\/sites.les.univr.it\/eisic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Saviano-Polese-Caputo-Walletzk%c3%bd.pdf"},{"key":"38307_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"410","DOI":"10.1007\/s11356-009-0157-x","volume":"16","author":"A Schaeffer","year":"2009","unstructured":"Schaeffer A, Hollert H, Ratte HT, Ross-Nickoll M, Filser J, Matthies M, Oehlmann J, Scheringer M, Schulz R, Seitz A (2009) An indispensable asset at risk: merits and needs of chemicals-related environmental sciences. Environ Sci Pollut Res 16:410\u2013413","journal-title":"Environ Sci Pollut Res"},{"key":"38307_CR11","unstructured":"UN (2025) United Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025, 51 pp. https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals"},{"key":"38307_CR12","unstructured":"University of Limerick (2008) Writing learning outcomes - a guide for academics, Version 2, 24 pp., https:\/\/www.ul.ie\/sites\/default\/files\/ctl\/support_-writing_learning_outcomes_at_programme_and_module_levels.pdf"}],"container-title":["Environmental Science and Pollution Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s11356-026-38307-5.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s11356-026-38307-5","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s11356-026-38307-5.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T22:28:34Z","timestamp":1792103314000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s11356-026-38307-5"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]]},"references-count":12,"alternative-id":["38307"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11356-026-38307-5","relation":{},"ISSN":["1614-7499"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1614-7499","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]]},"assertion":[{"value":"10 March 2026","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"7 October 2026","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"15 October 2026","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Ethical approval","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent to participate","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"All survey respondents were informed that by the participation in this survey persons in charge of the programme understand that the data provided will be used for analysis of the European programmes at the university level and that EuChemS, EuChemS DCE, data analysts and the authors of the publication that will evolve from this survey cannot be held responsible for any false provided information not for any use which can be made of data.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent for publication","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}]}}