Introduction

The Environmental Management School is responsible for training professionals who are able to manage the environment technically and scientifically and to manage the potential supply of biophysical resources, generating new criteria and conditions that promote the rise in the quality of life within a rational and sustainable process. To achieve its objective, the school has the Environmental Management academic program approved by the ICFES in 1992.

This academic program pursues a greater identification of the manager with the environment and a good decision-making, both in public and in private companies. The curriculum is based on interdisciplinary and the reading of the new concept of sustainable development. Therefore the student makes a reading of the local and regional environmental problems, while getting to know the social and administrative tools that allow providing consistent, accurate and context answers to the environment conflicts.

Environmental management, as a discipline and as a support tool for decision-making, has been inserted in the educational process as a way to solve different environmental issues.

General Objective 

Train a professional who is able to scientifically manage environmental issues and resource supply in the biophysical and socio-cultural sphere, to the generation of the approaches that promote sustainable regional development.

Specific Objectives 

• Apply administrative, economic and socio-cultural principles and theories to the sustainable development management in municipal and regional environment.
• Identify the role and responsibility of public and private organizations, national and international, with regard to sustainable development.
• Develop operational, technological and management schemes for environmental zoning
• Understand the environmental policy and legislation for proper insertion into sustainable development plans.
• Develop community development projects in line with municipal and regional development plans, towards the achievement of the objectives outlined in environmental management.
• Suggest alternative solutions to environmental problems at the community, institutional and technical levels both locally and regionally.
• Plan environmental impact assessment for processes and productive and infrastructure projects.
• Plan corporate environmental management systems in line with national and international standards.
• To promote environmentally appropriate production alternatives, in accordance to the politics of cleaner production.
• Manage plans, programs and projects of drinking water and sanitation.
• Apply the principles and methodology of cultural management as a social strategy for the sustainability of environmental processes.
• Manage geographic and environmental information systems.

Profile

The Environmental Manager

The Environmental Manager promotes the new knowledge, axiology, strategies and techniques that require the new environmental dimension of development; addressing it as a complex object of study, able to understand environmental issues and opportunities with a systemic and interdisciplinary view; and with skills not only for the public planning but also for the fields of organization, enforcement and environmental auditing of private companies.

Occupational Profile

The Environmental Manager performs tasks related to development plans and land use and zoning inserting the environmental variable into them. Manages programs and projects for environmental impact and pollution control; develops basic and applied research projects; advises public and private entities in the planning and management of programs and projects with environmental impact. Since the study of the environmental dimension must be addressed in an interdisciplinary way, the environmental manager will be permanently working with groups to develop urban and rural environmental projects.

Professional Profile

• Policies, standards and strategies for the conservation and proper use of national biological and ecological heritage.
• Land Management Plans and management of watersheds and urban, rural and regional environmental management plans.
• Plans, programs and projects of sector environmental management and environmental auditing.
• Plans, programs and projects for natural resource management.
• Plans, programs and projects of risk management.
• Environmental Diagnostics, environmental management plans and environmental impact assessment.
• Plans, programs and projects for environmental monitoring.
• Plans, programs and projects aimed at assessing environmental goods and services around bio and green markets.
• Plans, programs and projects for environmental education, for community environmental management around the environmental heritage.
• Plans, programs and projects for environmental research.
• Plans programs and projects in protected national, regional and local areas
• Plans, programs and projects of drinking water and basic sanitation.
• Plans, programs and projects in theme parks.
• Leadership and leading interdisciplinary teams on environmental projects.

Environmental Manager Skills:

Capabilities

• Synthesis, to extract the useful and productive part of each technique, model or experience. 
• Planning, to achieve the desired goals. 
• Organizing, to shape the ideas or alternatives, so that elements follow in an orderly and logical manner. 
• Creativity, to imagine, be original, and have initiative. Of design, to make descriptions or sketches of models, procedures, methods, forms and systems.
• Integration, to jointly manage the human, economic, financial and physical resources of the company.
• Evaluation, to select and define the factors in a process, problem or situation.
• Of control, to ensure accomplishment of the goals.

Abilities and Skills

• Basic, to know how to prepare, conduct and evaluate experiences, information, results, carry out models, induce behaviors, make decisions and solve problems.
• Communication, to transmit and motivate different people involved in the work.
• Persuasive, to influence others with ideas and implement programs and actions.
• Resourcefulness, to respond to various aspects of the community to which he/she is providing professional services to.

Attitudes

• Concern for achieving objectives.
• Responsibility for the roles and projects undertaken.
• Continuity of purpose and actions.
• Collaboration in the work of others and team work.
• Adaptability to technical innovation, new knowledge and scientific inquiry and research.
• Responsiveness to change, for the ideas of others.

Professional Technician in Sustainable Tourism Processes

Objectives: To train professional technicians with the ability to apply their knowledge, skills and abilities in the field of Tourism Administration, which are able to respond to situations and problems that arise in the daily life of tourism services; including incoming tourism operators and tourist hospitality.

By the end of the program, the professional technicians will be able to:

• Operate in tourist companies and provide services for each of the subsectors that make up the sector.
• Operate tourist processes related to natural or cultural attractions.
• Respond to requests from tourists always seeking satisfaction in the context of sustainable development.
• Perform basic management to ensure a coordinated delivery of tourist services.

Occupational Profile

The Professional Technician in Sustainable Tourism Processes of the Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira will be able to carry out activities consisting in applying service techniques for the tourism industry; according to the technical emphasis chosen, which are "Tourism Operation" and "Hospitality and Cuisine". The abilities and skills by the end of the program will be:

A)   Technical emphasis in Tourism Operation

• Guidance techniques for tourist sites and scenarios
• Techniques for the design and operation of tourist programs
• Techniques for organizing events
• Techniques for development of activities in tourist attractions

B)   Technical emphasis in Hospitality and Cuisine

• Cooking Techniques for food facilities
• Bar and dining room techniques for food facilities
• Lobby techniques for hotels
• Steward techniques for rural housing or B&Bs

Additionally, the University is focused on bilingualism. For this reason, the students shall study four modules in English using the Institute of Foreign Languages ??- ILEX.