DESCRIPTION
This is a four-year academic undergraduate science degree specializing in integrated pest management, or IPM. While the curriculum concentrates on pest management for greenhouses nurseries, golf courses, parks, and urban landscapes, which is in line with the School of Horticulture’s main focus, IPM strategies and pest behaviours share common attributes throughout all fields where pests are problematic. Among the more common types of pests in horticulture are insects, mites, rodents, viruses, fungi, bacteria, and weeds.
IPM is a systems approach where pest biology, plant quality, sustainability, and the environment are integrated in the design and implementation of pest suppression programs. IPM balances and protects the economic, ecological, and aesthetic interests of industry and society. Students will seek more natural and environmentally sustainable means to manage pest infestations.
The curriculum focuses primarily on the underlying science and techniques used in integrated pest management. It includes two work experience practica and a research project. With additional bridging courses, students will be prepared for graduate programs in biology, agriculture, and horticulture. This program is unique in Western Canada.
Some of the key features of the degree include:
- Development of knowledge, core competencies, and skills characteristic of a Bachelor of Science program with specialized emphasis in integrated pest management;
- Preparation for business careers by incorporating essential employability skills in all courses;
- Development of analytical skills to promote critical thinking and innovation in the discovery of new approaches to solve pest management problems;
- Development of communication skills, which will include oral presentations to a variety of audiences, a wide range of written papers and reports, and a research project.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Graduates will be prepared for a wide range of careers wherever pest management is practiced. In addition to careers in production horticulture (greenhouse and nursery), landscape horticulture (urban, residential, and commercial landscapes) and turf management (golf courses and athletic fields), opportunities exist at all points in the broader horticulture industry.
Graduates of this program will be fully qualified to seek employment in a range of careers related to integrated pest management. Our society is becoming increasingly concerned about our environment’s sustainability and to the effects of invasive plants, uncontrolled pest infestations or disease outbreaks. Municipalities and governments are responding with legislation that limits the techniques available to protect crops, landscapes, and structures. This, combined with other restrictions on natural resource use, has triggered the need to seek pest management strategies that incorporate basic ecological concepts.
The BSc in Integrated Pest Management prepares graduates for:
- Careers with government agencies specializing in plant inspections at the federal level to designing non-pesticide alternatives at the municipal parks board level;
- Careers within the horticulture industry sector as integrated pest management specialists in greenhouses, nurseries, field production of vegetables and fruits, for landscape maintenance firms, arboriculture companies, and golf courses;
- Careers as technical advisors in companies that develop or sell pest control products;
- Self employment as pest management consultants preparing pest management plans and conducting research trials for government, industry and private clients. Graduates will be qualified to teach courses in pest management at the citation, certificate and diploma levels.
The School of Horticulture maintains a very high graduate placement rate.
ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS
Students have two pathways for admission to the BSc-IPM program.
1. Full-time registration priority/Part-time open access priority
Students with the following academic record enter the program as fully qualified students. If students in this category register as full-time IPM students they will receive registration priority over part-time students, qualifying students, or non-program students. Applicants must meet the following:
- General University admissions requirements
- Completion of the following High School courses or equivalent:
- Principles of Physics 12 with P
- Principles of Mathematics 12 with C+
- Chemistry 12 with C+
- English 12 with a B or Kwantlen English Placement Test placement
2. Qualifying
Students who have not completed the above high school courses (or equivalent) can meet with faculty or an educational advisor to design individual education plans. Upon completion of the required upgrading, students can then receive registration priority for full-time study, provided seats are available.
Graduates from Kwantlen’s Horticulture Technology or Environmental Protection Technology programs will gain recognition for many of the courses taken within their two-year technology program. However they will be required to take the missing science and horticulture courses, respectively, in the first two years before proceeding into the third year. Similarly, students with an Associate of Science Degree will be lacking the horticulture courses contained in years one and two. Such students will be assessed on an individual basis for bridging requirements and transfer credit standing.
CONTENT
The Bachelor of Science in Integrated Pest Management is organized into eight semesters and requires completion of 41 courses.
During years one and two, students will build a foundation in the following areas:
- Basic biology, ecology (including issues of biodiversity), chemistry, physics, and mathematics;
- Plant identification;
- Horticultural crop production methods or plant installation and care techniques used for urban and natural landscapes;
- Basic business and entrepreneurial skills.
The program has been designed to include as many courses as possible from the Associate of Science degree, the Environmental Protection Technology program, and from the Horticulture Technology program. Courses can be transferred from other institutions using the articulation agreements outlined in the BC Transfer Guide http://www.bctransferguide.ca/
Required Courses (in recommended order)
Year 1
Year 2
Three from the following list of Years 1 and 2 options:
Plus one of:
*It is strongly recommended that ENGL 1100 be taken in Year 2, as this course is a prerequisite for many of the Liberal Education electives.
**A Liberal Education elective course must be taken either in Year 2 or Year 3. Course may be chosen from the Humanities or Social Sciences course lists.
During years 3 and 4 students will take a number of courses that focus directly on Integrated Pest Management through 15 courses designed for this program. Two practicum courses and a research project course will bridge the science and the application of IPM. The goals of the upper level curriculum are to build:
- Proficiency in pest identification and pest/host relationships;
- Practice in IPM program analysis, design and implementation;
- Knowledge of the movement and spread of pests;
- Sensitivity to global political, social, economic points of view regarding pest management;
- Proficiency in applied and analytical skills and problem analysis.
The program in years 3 and 4 is designed to integrate knowledge and application. There will be many opportunities for students to practice integrated pest management techniques to gain practical competence. Courses with letters in the last two places (31XY) are under development and have not been assigned numbers at this time.
Required Courses
Year 3 (to be available in 2010/2011)
- ENVI 3112 *Environment and Society
- HTPM 31XX Entomology
- HTPM 31XY Plant Pathology
- HTPM 31XZ Environmental Toxicology
- HTPM 32XX Research Skills
- HTPM 32XY Biology of Vertebrate Pests
- HTPM 32XZ Chemical and Physical Pest Management
- HTPM 32YY Practicum I
One of:
Plus One of:
- ENVI 2410 Water Resources Protection
- HORT 2412 Landscape Estimating and Contract Administration
- HORT 2436 Golf Course Management
- HORT 2463 Nursery Production
- Liberal Education elective course**
*Required Liberal Education course
**A Liberal Education elective course must be taken either in Year 2 or Year 3. Course may be chosen from the Humanities or Social Sciences course lists.
Year 4 (to be available in 2011/2012)
- HTPM 41XX Vegetation Management
- HTPM 41XY Integrated Pest Management: Case Studies
- HTPM 41XZ Practicum II
- HTPM 41YY Environmental Effects of Pest Management Practices
- HTPM 42XX Structural Pests and their Control
- HTPM 42XY Biological Pest Management
- HTPM 42XZ*Global Regulation Issues and Innovations in Pest Management: Case Studies
- HTPM 42YY Research Project
- PHIL 3033*Business Ethics
- Liberal Education Elective (3)**
*Required Liberal Education course
**A second Liberal Education elective course must be taken in this year.
GRADUATION
Upon successful completion of this program, students are awarded a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Pest Management. Negotiations are ongoing with the BC Institute of Agrologists, a professional organization that encompasses agriculture and the natural sciences and focuses on production of agriculture products, conservation, and sustainability of resources. Graduates may be able to use the BSc-IPM as the education credential required for application to become an Agrologist in Training (AIT). A professional status designation, Professional Agrologist, is conferred when the requirements of the AIT program are complete.