This Tsinghua University course (graduate-level) is a part of the Global Hybrid Classroom (GHC) Certificate program.

In order to cultivate more international environmental governance talents, the School of Environment of Tsinghua University has organized relevant courses in this field and set up the certificate project of Environmental Governance. The certificate project is committed to cultivating talents engaged in China’s and global environmental governance through learning the analysis methods, policy instructions, and project development of environmental problems. As a result, overseas students and Tsinghua University students can combine relevant interdisciplinary background knowledge, expand students’ global vision and national and regional background, and improve their ability to analyze and solve problems of resource and environmental sustainability.

“Environmental Governance” certificate is compromised of 4 courses:

This course will address the theory and method system of material flow and present some cases in many relevant areas related to environmental protection, and waste & resource management. It consists of four parts:

  • Introduction section presents the objective, scope, and application of MFA;
  • Methodology section addresses the terms and definitions, procedures, and data uncertainties & evaluation;
  • Case studies section demonstrates its applications in environmental management, resource conservation, and waste management;
  • and the last section is outlook of MFA from vision to implications for circular economy.

Material Flow Analysis and Its Applications syllabus (Spring 2022).pdf

Xianlai Zeng
associate professor at the School of Environment at Tsinghua University

Dr. Xianlai Zeng is currently an associate professor at the School of Environment at Tsinghua University. He obtained the bachelor (2002) and master (2005) degrees in Northwest A&F University, and Ph.D. (2014) at Tsinghua University. He worked as a technical advisor for the United Nations Development Programme (2015), visiting staff at Coventry University (2012), visiting professor at Macquarie University (2017), and Fulbright visiting fellow at Yale University (2018-2019). His areas of specialization and interest include e-waste management, resource sustainability, and circular economy. He has published around 100 articles, patents, and books.  Dr. Zeng has chaired or organized a couple of leading international meeting or workshop on resource flow and environmental management.

The aim of this course is to review of the methods for, and application of, environmental risk assessment. It is not a technical “how to” guide but examines the basic concepts applicable to all environmental risk assessments including human health risk assessments, ecological risk assessments and industrial applications of risk assessment. Existing knowledge and research in this field is vast and this book aims to identify unifying concepts, discuss currently used methodologies, examine their application and give examples of risk assessment in practice, and guide the students to information sources relevant to ERA.

Environmental Risk Analysis syllabus (Spring 2022).pdf

Jinhui Li
professor in School of Environment of Tsinghua University

Dr. Jinhui Li is the executive director of Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific under UNEP, and a professor in the School of Environment of Tsinghua University. He obtained a B.Sc. in 1987, an M.Sc. in 1990, and a Ph. D in environmental chemistry in 1997. Additionally, he also acts as a Steering Committee member, Solving the E-waste Problem. he has led about 100 projects related to the circular economy and waste management. In particularly, he has established the international partnership on metals recycling and sustainability from technology development and policymaking. He received prizes and awards over two decades, including the leading National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology in circular economy. He has published over 300 articles, obtained 30 patents, and chaired decades of international conferences.

This course includes the basic theory, knowledge system and domestic and foreign practice cases in the field of environmental management and policy, aiming to enable students to master the basic knowledge, research methods and achievements in this field. In addition, the course invites experts and scholars to carry out the project teaching, such as water resources management, management of road traffic source of atmospheric pollution of the environment, clean energy and environmental management, carbon emissions trading system, and introduces scientific issues, methods, results and the application in each direction.

Environmental Management and Policy syllabus (Autumn 2021).pdf

Xi Lu
tenured associate professor in the School of Environment, Tsinghua University

Dr. Xi Lu received his PhD in John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University in 2010. From 2010 he continued in working at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow, research associate and lecturer until joining Tsinghua University in 2015 where he is now a tenured associate Professor in School of Environment. His research interests emphasize study of the technical, economic, and environmental dimensions of zero carbon energy sources in transitioning to a carbon neutral society. His primary research area concentrates on model stems of renewable energy, environment and climate, integrative solution for large-scale deployment of wind and solar power, energy storage, emission inventory of GHGs and air pollutants, as well as carbon neutral urbanization energy systems. He has published papers in Science, PNAS, Nature Energy, Joule, Nature Sustainability and Nature Communications on these topics. Dr Lu received the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars in 2017 and the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2020.

The aim of this course is to train the students for understanding of the international cooperation needs and international financing sources, qualifying the drafting of the project proposal for international cooperation. The course consists of 7 lectures, 1 group presentation, and 1 group term paper. The lectures are:

  1. Global governance and environmental governance;
  2. International environmental cooperation;
  3. Design and development of international environmental cooperation projects;
  4. International environmental cooperation fund;
  5. Development and management of EU environmental sustainability projects;
  6. Bilateral environmental project development and management bilateral international cooperation;
  7. Development and management of small-scale finance projects of the United Nations and the Convention;
  8. Presentation of term papers.

International Environmental Cooperation Project Development and Management syllabus (Spring 2022).pdf

Jinhui Li
professor in School of Environment of Tsinghua University

Dr. Jinhui Li is the executive director of Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific under UNEP, and a professor in the School of Environment of Tsinghua University. He obtained a B.Sc. in 1987, an M.Sc. in 1990, and a Ph. D in environmental chemistry in 1997. Additionally, he also acts as a Steering Committee member, Solving the E-waste Problem. he has led about 100 projects related to the circular economy and waste management. In particularly, he has established the international partnership on metals recycling and sustainability from technology development and policymaking. He received prizes and awards over two decades, including the leading National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology in circular economy. He has published over 300 articles, obtained 30 patents, and chaired decades of international conferences.

This Global Hybrid Classroom (GHC) Certificate also participated in the Global Open Courses (GOC) initiative, making some of the lectures openly available:

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Global Hybrid Courses (GHC) is currently open to current students from overseas partner universities of Tsinghua University, and it’s free. If your university (instructor or students) would like to join the program and experience what it is like to teach and learn in a truly global classroom, please contact the Assistant Secretary-General of the Global MOOC Alliance at [email protected] or [email protected].

How to attend our GHC courses?

  • Tsinghua University will send the list of GHC courses to overseas partner universities every semester. These universities will notify students to enroll and priority will be given to students eager to take part
  • Students from overseas partner universities have to complete the courses required by the GHC Certificate within a specified time. After completing each course, they will receive a GHC transcript issued by Tsinghua University.
  • Students from overseas partner universities attending Tsinghua’s postgraduate courses, whose own universities do not allow for credit transfer, can enjoy credit exemption if they study for postgraduate degrees at Tsinghua University in the future.

How to apply for the certificate upon completion of the required courses?

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