Coastal Management Degrees in the UK

Offered mainly as a postgraduate degree, coastal management deals with the protection, defense, and development of coastal areas and coastal zones. You will explore your understanding of coastal and marine environments, and what we can do to protect them. This area of expertise is in increasingly high demand due to the current climate change issues, as well as the inevitable erosion of our coastlines.

Depending on where you choose to study, you may be able to specialise throughout your degree. This could be in the form of choosing certain modules, or simply picking your area of research for your final project. The specialisation you choose can influence the area in which you choose to work after you have graduated. Common specialisations include:

• Marine Ecosystems
• Coastal Environments
• Flood Risk Management and Natural Resources
• Coastal Erosion
• Port Policy and Management
• Lake Ecology
• Marine Resources

If your degree requires you to write a dissertation or submit a final major research project, this will give you the opportunity to further explore an area of interest within coastal management.

Career opportunities

Graduates of a coastal management degree will find there are a wide variety of career opportunities available to them. If you choose to work in a role directly related to your degree, jobs might include coastal engineer, marine manager, port manager, or oceanographer.

You will have gained a wide variety of transferable skills throughout your degree in coastal management. These skills could include critical thinking, project management, and data collection and analysis.