The National Environment Commission Secretariat (NECS) had a meeting with the officials and lecturers of the Royal University of Bhutan on March 17, 2021, to present the proposal for an “Engineering Programme in Environment with Specialization in Water Resources Management”.

The proposed programme aims to provide a robust and holistic view of environmental concepts, focusing on water resources management –from source to supply to treatment and governance– in order to ensure that our resources are adequately governed and utilized.

The programme has been developed based on desk review by the NECS. Firstly, a stocktakingexercise was conducted for the existing programmes. This was followed by a gaps and needs assessment to identify essential areas for environmental and water resources management.

During the presentation, the background of the proposal, terminology referenced, along with the rationale and objectives of the programme were presented. The details of the stock taking exercise, and the gaps and needs assessment were provided, followed by the modules under the programme. The integration and career possibilities along with the key considerations to be made in taking this proposal forward were highlighted.

This was the first consultative meeting with the RUB and served as a platform for determining the way forward for the proposal.