Here at CAT, we offer a range of postgraduate degrees in sustainability and our flexible learning options allow students to study with us internationally. From Canada to Bermuda, the Netherlands to Lithuania, our students come from all over the globe and form a vital part of a growing network of changemakers.
Our international Graduate School students come to the courses with their own wealth of knowledge and experience. Whether this relates to politics or policy, ecosystems, the built environment or anything in between, when paired with the academic skills and understandings gained at CAT, they go on to make a real difference across the globe.
If you’re considering postgraduate study at CAT and live abroad, read on to find out why studying with us can be a unique and enriching educational experience.
Implementing positive solutions in real time
Studying internationally has allowed countless CAT students to work alongside their studies. In many cases this means that they can begin implementing the concepts and techniques they’re learning about in real time. For Ananya Jauhari, who has been studying our MSc in Green Building alongside her work as an architect in India, this has been one of the many positive aspects of studying from afar.
“Because I’m studying via distance learning I have been able to work alongside. That has been an amazing advantage because I’ve been trying to implement the concepts that I’ve been learning about to real world projects in my job. Being from India, I see that there is a lot of scope and potential for change in the built environment, and I’m trying to align my career in such a way that I’m able to contribute meaningfully through real world projects to attain sustainability in the built environment.”
Ananya Jauhari
Become part of a Global Community
Joining CAT’s Graduate School as an international student puts you at the heart of a global network working to enact change on different scales in a multitude of ways, across multiple sectors. It provides students with the skills and knowledge to bring a better future into being. For Gemma Young, who studied our MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change from abroad, her studies at CAT provided an uplifting experience that solidified her place within a larger network of change makers.
“CAT merged theory with real world action, connecting me to a global community and giving me the confidence – and tools – to turn ambitious sustainability ideas into practice. On a personal level, the experience reenergised my sense of purpose: rather than feeling I’m pushing against the tide, I now see a growing international network committed to systemic reform and I feel equipped to contribute meaningfully to it.”
Gemma Young
CAT’s global community is also multifaceted and includes not only our fantastic international students but also staff, spin-out businesses and graduates. The award-winning company Dulas Ltd was founded at CAT and now supplies solar powered vaccine fridges to remote locations all over the globe, providing communities with lifesaving medicines. The company’s Executive Managing Director, Ruth Chapman, is also a CAT graduate.
Lecturers and guest speakers also join us from over the ocean, including Senior Lecturer Bryce Gilroy-Scott, who is based in British Columbia, Canada. His location and specialist knowledge as a consultant and educator in the fields of sustainable communities, construction and energy brings a unique and enriching perspective to our courses. CAT graduates also go on to work in communities all over the world such as Peter O’Toole who is currently working on a sustainable practices project in Kenya with a Maasai community.
Flexible learning options
Most international students study with us via distance learning, and with round-the-clock access to all teaching resources via Microsoft Teams, students can join us from wherever they’re based. Flexible teaching hours and availability of staff like Bryce, who works from the Pacific Standard timezone, means that students can meet with graduate school staff at a time that works for them, and hands-on activities are tailored for both distance and on-site learners so that those learning from afar can also immerse themselves in hands-on practical teaching activities. With support from lecturers, including Bryce, students can be supported at times that suit them.
“Studying at CAT sitting thousands of miles away in Muscat… I’ve never been away from the tutors, and regular seminars allow me to have clarity on matters instantly. Seminars planned at different times allow me to select the time that suits me. Doing distance study helps me to continue working and studying at the same time. I would strongly recommend studying by distance at CAT.”
Sarath from Muscat
Inspiring global solutions through dissertation research
Recent graduate Anna Hartley studied with us from her home in France and as part of her dissertation, she developed a digital programme called CELESTE. The prototype provides French citizens with the specific information needed to visualise how small-scale renewable energy could work for their own regions.
The programme works by harnessing publicly available data such as the current population and electrical demand of a region, how feasible different renewable technologies might be for a geographic location, recommendations for consultants and much more. It then compiles and communicates this data giving users access to the specialised information they need to imagine how small-scale renewable energy might work in their communities.
Anna has since gone on to put CELESTE under a Creative Commons licence meaning that it could be adapted for communities all over the world; a heartening reminder that studying internationally at CAT can lead to global solutions.
Growing international demand for green careers
Factors such as global sustainability targets, policy changes and transitions towards renewable energy means that there is currently a rapid increase in international demand for a greener workforce. Studying at CAT allows students to gain highly desired skills and advance their careers whilst making meaningful changes. A growing understanding of the climate and biodiversity crisis is also evoking those already working across a variety of sectors to rethink how they are operating, as was the case for Roshan Nageena Sabeer, CAT graduate and Principal Architect at Ávása Architects in Kerela, India:
“Before joining CAT, I was struggling to run my firm as I felt I was doing more damage to the planet without understanding ways to change popular mindsets about the indiscriminate use of energy in buildings. My passion for influencing a sustainable lifestyle and search for solutions led me to CAT. I now intend to use the knowledge gained to further shift my firm to a more sustainable model and to share these ideas to influence others through sustainability consultant work in the future.”
Roshan Nageena Sabeer
Join us: Study sustainability at CAT
If you’re a prospective international student inspired to join a global classroom for climate action, why not explore our diverse range of postgraduate courses, join us online on one of our virtual open days or get in touch with our Admissions Team to make an enquiry today.
Note: If you would normally require a student visa to study in the UK, you can study our courses via distance learning (except MArch Sustainable Architecture) or alternatively, you can choose a mixture of residential (usually under 6 months) and distance learning if you are eligible. Check the UK Government website for your eligibility to see if you require a visa to study here in the UK.
We do not currently have a licence to sponsor students who would usually require a visa, which unfortunately means we can’t enrol students from outside the UK for full-time residential study. From September 2021 new students who previously would have been considered as EEA students will now be considered as Overseas students and will not be able to take full-time residential study at CAT and will need to study via distance learning or through the mixture of residential and distance learning as above if eligible.