Program Overview

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Environmental Policy and GovernancePUBL 307

Course Overview

This course examines a wide range of environmental, biodiversity, and sustainability challenges from policy and governance perspectives, with illustrations from New Zealand and overseas.

Course Details

• Course Code: PUBL 307
• Duration: 23 February 2026 to 21 June 2026
• Trimester: Trimester 1
• CRN: 28290
• Lecture Times: Monday, 2:40 pm
• Location: Pipitea Campus
• Fees:
  • Domestic students: NZ$1,360.00
  • International students: NZ$6,257.60
• Estimated Workload: Approximately 200 hours or 11.8 hours per week for 17 weeks
• Points: 20 points

Special Course Features

• Includes sustainability material

Entry Restrictions

• Prerequisites: 15 points from PUBL 201, PUBL 205, PUBL 210, PUBL 211, BIOL 222, ENVI 214, GEOG 214, GEOG 222, LAWS 318, LAWS 325, MGMT 206, MGMT 211, SARC 233, TOUR 203
• Corequisites: None
• Restrictions: Students who have passed PUBL 207 prior to 2016 cannot take this course

Taught By

• School of Government Wellington School of Business and Government

Disclaimer

This course outline may be subject to change.

Key Dates

Find important dates, including mid-trimester teaching breaks, on the University's key dates calendar. Assessment dates will be provided once the course has begun.

About This Course

This course examines key aspects of environmental policy-making, implementation, and governance. It applies interdisciplinary perspectives to the analysis of environmental problems, actors, and the design of policy objectives. Students learn how to scope policy interventions with the help of key decision-making principles and how to assess policy mixes from implementation and effectiveness perspectives.

Course Learning Objectives

Students who pass this course should be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of the multiple dimensions of environmental issues and how problem analysis methods, specific to the environmental policy domain, should be applied
• Apply conceptual frameworks for the analysis of policy actors and the development of environmental policy objectives
• Scope and critically assess the effectiveness of governance principles and environmental policy instruments to implement various types of environmental policy objectives

How This Course Is Taught

This is a campus-based course. Lectures are video recorded for the purposes of learning assistance, not for online asynchronous course enrollment and learning. There are no assessments requiring in-person attendance.

Assessment

• Environmental Problem Analysis: Maximum 2700 words, Individual, 40%
• In-Class Graded Quiz: Individual, 10%
• Policy Proposal: Maximum 3300 words, Individual, 50%

Mandatory Requirements

To pass this course, students must:

• Achieve an overall pass mark of at least 50%
• Submit assessments 1 and 3
• Attend at least 50% of lectures and tutorials

Lecture Times and Rooms

• 23 February 2026 to 5 April 2026
• 5 April 2026 to 31 May 2026

What You'll Need to Get

You do not need to get any texts or equipment for this course.