What is the Environmental Health Program?
The Environmental Health Program is a dynamic associate degree program that blends basic sciences such as biology, ecology, and chemistry with today's complex natural and human-induced environmental problems, aiming to produce practical solutions alongside theoretical knowledge. By examining the emergence processes of the 21st century's most critical environmental problems—such as global climate change, microplastic pollution, the depletion of water resources, and waste management—this program aims to train competent professionals capable of developing sustainable and scientific solutions to these issues.
What are the responsibilities of those who graduate from the Environmental Health Program?
The main purpose of Üsküdar University Environmental Health Program; to raise awareness among students who are educated about the importance of the environment, why it should be protected and what we can encounter if it is not, and to enable graduates with this awareness to work on environmental issues.
Graduating students are people who help environmental engineers to protect the efficiency of natural resources and to organize the environment in accordance with human health and well-being.
Its main duties are; conducting air, water, soil analysis, determining the level of pollution, determining the factors that cause it when the pollution level reaches the levels that harm the health, ensuring the implementation of the measures determined to make the solid and liquid or gaseous wastes polluting the environment harmless to the environment, tables and graphics in case it is forwarded to the concerned. Students who successfully graduate from the program are given the title of “Environmental Health Technician”.
What are the Responsibilities of the Environmental Health Program Graduates?
The main objective of the Üsküdar University Environmental Health Program is to graduate qualified technical personnel who have a high awareness regarding the protection and efficient use of natural resources, and who can analyze the effects of the environment on human health and well-being. Students who successfully complete the program are awarded the title of “Environmental Health Technician.”
The primary responsibilities of Environmental Health Technicians are as follows:
- Taking samples and applying advanced technical analysis methods to determine air, water, and soil quality.
- Monitoring environmental pollution levels and identifying factors that threaten public health.
- Providing technical support to the processes of waste separation and treatment facilities for the environmentally safe disposal or recovery of solid, liquid, and gaseous wastes.
- Assisting environmental engineers in line with regional development goals by converting data collected from the field into technical reports, tables, and graphs.
- Monitoring the field implementation of legal regulations aimed at protecting the environment and human health.
What are the Courses Taken in the Environmental Health Program?
Our students begin their educational journey with basic science courses such as chemistry, biology, basic anatomy, and physiology; they then proceed to vocational specialization courses that deeply examine the interaction between nature and the environment. Our curriculum is kept quite broad to equip students with the ability to manage short- and long-term environmental risks.
Our main vocational courses are as follows:
- Environmental Chemistry
- Environmental Microbiology
- Water Quality and Treatment
- Solid Wastes
- Air Pollution and Control
- Soil Science and Pollution
- Environmental Policies and Legislation
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Environmental Toxicology
Thanks to these basic vocational courses and other courses they will take during their educational processes, our students are equipped to produce solutions to technical problems they will encounter in their professional lives using innovative approaches.
What are the Employment Areas for Environmental Health Program Graduates?
Upon completing their education, the graduates of our Environmental Health Associate Degree Program receive the title of "Environmental Health Technician" and have a wide employment network in both the public and private sectors. There is a particularly strong employment potential in the public sector through the Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) central placements and institutional recruitments.
The primary employment areas and positions our graduates can be appointed to in the public sector are as follows:
Ministry of Health Organizations: They work with the title of "Health Technician" in Provincial and District Health Directorates and Community Health Centers (TSM).
Public and University Hospitals: They are employed in city hospitals, state hospitals, and university training and research hospitals in areas such as medical/hazardous waste management, infection control committee coordination, and hospital environmental health processes.
General Directorate of Health for Borders and Coasts of Turkey: They inspect the quarantine, vector control, and compliance of ships, aircraft, and vehicles with international health rules at airports, international ports, and border gates.
Local Governments (Municipalities): They can work in the "Technician" position in the Environmental Protection and Control Departments of metropolitan and district municipalities, and in Water and Sewerage Administrations (İSKİ, ASKİ, etc.) on water quality, waste management, and environmental health projects.
Other Public Institutions: They can take part in the technical staff of strategic public institutions such as the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ).
Private Sector Opportunities: In addition to public appointments, our graduates are also sought-after technical personnel in the private sector. They find opportunities to work in environmental consulting firms, environmental analysis laboratories, Joint Health and Safety Units (OSGB), and the environmental management units of private hospitals.
Double Major (ÇAP) Programs
Üsküdar University Environmental Health Program students have the privilege of simultaneously obtaining a second associate degree diploma through the Double Major Program (ÇAP), provided they meet the academic success requirements. The programs in which Environmental Health students can do a Double Major are:
- Emergency and Disaster Management
- Nuclear Technology and Radiation Security
- Laboratory Technology
- Occupational Health and Safety
- Food Technology
- Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
Departments for Transfer via the DGS Exam
Our students graduating from the Üsküdar University Environmental Health associate degree program can gain the right to complete their education in 4-year bachelor's degree programs through the Vertical Transfer Exam (DGS). The bachelor's degree programs that Environmental Health associate degree graduates can transfer to are:
- Environmental Engineering
- Biology
- Health Management
- Social Work
