Starts: Annually in October
Duration: 18 Months
Location: UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands

Prospective Students

The Water Services Management specialization is designed for professionals active in the water services sector. Students from line ministries, water supply and waste water companies, municipal assemblies, but also from an NGO or CBO background are set to benefit from the well-balanced programme.

Learning Objectives

After completing this specialization, graduates will be able to:

• Describe for a given water resources system the interplay between the main biophysical processes and social dynamics, in analyzing service delivery modalities;
• Describe and explain the main concepts and instruments for analyzing and influencing formal and informal arrangements concerning water supply and sanitation services, including policies, laws and institutions, and by adopting a historical perspective;
• Explain the key concepts for integrated, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary analyses of water services management and describe challenges of providing water supply and sanitation services at different levels (from global to local);
• Summarize the current debates relevant for water supply and sanitation services, using institutional and management theories from different academic disciplines (e.g. economics, public administration, sociology, political science, law).

Application procedure

Please click here for the application procedure for the UNESCO-IHE MSc programmes.

Programme Structure & Contents

This specialization consists of 14 modules covering a total of 12 months, this is followed by a 6-month research and thesis phase. Graduates of the programme will be awarded 106 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits.

A detailed table of all specialization modules that comprise the Master's Programme in Water Management is available here. The specializations are found in the top row and their relevant modules are found directly below.