ERS Practical Experience

Welcome to ERS Practical Experience - the preparation and administrative module for your mandatory practical experience.

By gaining practical experience and applying coursework theory to workplace situations during your studies, you should be in a good position to prepare for and enter permanent avenues of employment following the completion of your degree. The purpose of 'Practical Experience' is to provide students with opportunities to examine how enterprises are managed, to identify the factors which limit production and efficient resource management, to develop skills in the assessment of management and to relate components of the curriculum to agricultural, natural resource management or environmental practice.

We encourage Students to take up opportunities for International Work Experience which is covered under UNE insurance providing that the same process has been followed for a domestic placement and appropriate forms have been submitted and approved prior to the placement. Students are responsible for ALL associated travel and relevant costs.

Practical experience is a mandatory part of your ERS course and you will not be eligible to graduate until you have satisfied the practical experience component of your award.

The process to undertaking Practical Experience:

  1. Enrol in your Practical Unit (eg: PRACAGR, PRACANSC, PRACRURSC, PRACENSC, or PRACNRM) through your myUNE enrolment portal.
  2. Once enrolled in your Practical unit, you will be automatically enrolled in Inplace where you access your Host Employer Form and Timesheets.
  3. Join your relevant Practical Unit Mylearn page.

BANSC, BAGR, BAGLAW, BAGBUS, and BRURSC Students

Enterprise Categories

Bachelor of Rural Science students are required to complete work on a minimum of four categories. Bachelor of Agriculture, Bachelor of Animal Science, Bach of Ag/Business and Bach of Ag/Law students on a minimum of three categories.

Categories

  • Dryland cropping
  • Irrigation cropping
  • Horticulture (vegetables, flowers, fruit and nuts)
  • Viticulture
  • Forestry
  • Grazing sheep
  • Grazing beef
  • Dairy
  • Pigs
  • Poultry (layers or broilers)
  • Feedlot beef
  • Alternative animal systems (e.g. aquaculture, goats, horses, dogs, wildlife, veterinary etc.)
  • Volunteer & Outreach (RFS, SES, RSPCA, WIRES, show committee, HSC booster days, school visits etc) max 2 weeks
  • Agribusiness (e.g. merchandising, agronomic advisors, agricultural contracting {shearing, bug checking etc.})
  • Research and Regulatory (University labs, CSIRO, State government DPI, APVMA, private research organisations natural resource management {Landcare, Catchment Management Authorities}, National Parks)
  • Approved special courses (Farm Chemicals, Meat Judging, Artificial Insemination, etc)

NOTE: Students may work on their own family property/agribusiness/animal enterprise for a maximum of 4 weeks. Students can apply for practical experience that has already been completed to meet up to half of the requirements, in circumstances as listed in the Prac Experience MyLearn site. Each application will be considered individually and is not automatically granted. Applications for Work Placement that have already been completed prior to the commencement of the degree MUST be lodged within the first trimester of commencing your degree.

BENSC and BESLAW Students

You are required to complete 40 hours of practical experience over one or more categories. You will not be eligible to graduate until you have satisfied the practical experience component of your course.

Categories

  • On Ground Landcare Organisations regen, restoration, etc)
  • Government Organisations (Local Land Services, EPA, National Parks, CSIRO)
  • Conservation Organisations (Bush Heritage, Arid Recovery)
  • Environmental Consultancy
  • UNE Research
  • Other University Research
  • Other Industry (Mining, Agriculture,
  • Manufacturing)
BESMNR Students

Bachelor of Environmental Science/Master of Natural Resource Management students are required to complete a total of 80 days (16 weeks) of practical experience covering four (4) industry categories as part of your course requirements.

The categories are:

  • Local, State or federal government advisory, regulatory, planning, management and reporting services (e.g. Local Land Services or Catchment Management Authorities, Landscape Boards, Biodiversity Conservation Trust, grant bodies [e.g. QLD Land Restoration Fund], National Parks and Wildlife Service, town planning departments, waste/pollution management, water management authorities, soil conservation service, state forests, EPA, ABARES, DCCEEW, DAFF, GeoScience Australia)
  • Private consulting, reporting and advisory services (e.g. sustainable agriculture advisors, carbon aggregators, biodiversity assessors, soil consultants, Accounting for Nature)
  • NRM enabling (e.g. NRM Regions Australia, National Landcare Network, Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, Australasia Pacific Extension Network)
  • Research (e.g. university labs [not just UNE], CSIRO, DPI, herbaria, museums)
  • Indigenous land management (e.g. Indigenous Protected Area management, indigenous ranger initiatives, community engagement, Local Aboriginal Land Councils)
  • Not-for-profit or philanthropic, volunteer and outreach (e.g. Landcare, Rivercare, Bushcare, Dunecare, etc. WIRES, RSPCA) max 4 weeks
  • Land restoration, bush regeneration, seed collection and native plant propagation (e.g. Greening Australia, Great Eastern Ranges, TASC)
  • Conservation (e.g. Bush Heritage Australia, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Australian Conservation Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, The Wilderness Society, zoos, natural history museums, botanic gardens, seed banks)
  • Mining (e.g. environmental impact monitoring, exploration, offset assessments, reporting)
  • Agriculture (e.g. farm planning, sustainability reporting, natural capital assessments)
  • Renewable energy projects (e.g. designing projects, managing sites, site assessments)
  • Ecotourism (e.g. guiding, designing, managing sites)
  • Special courses (e.g. plant identification, statistics, horticulture, animal handling, survey and monitoring techniques [e.g. acoustics, camera trapping, etc.], group facilitation and conflict resolution, drone operations, biosecurity, chemical handling, chainsaw training, bushfire safety [e.g. RFS training], WHS [e.g. risk assessment], 4WD driver training, industry 'accredited assessor' training) with Unit Coordinator pre-approval, max 4 weeks
  • Approved conferences and workshops (e.g. Ecological Society of Australia, Landcare Australia conference, Australian Rangelands Society conference, Australian Mammal Society conference, Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network events, Soil Science Australia conference, Australian Earth Sciences Convention, Australian Freshwater Sciences Society conference) with Unit Coordinator pre-approval, max 2 weeks

NOTE: Students may work on their own family property for a maximum of 2 weeks.

Students can apply for practical experience that has already been completed to meet up to half of the requirements, in circumstances as listed in the Work Experience Requirements book on the PRACNRM myLearn site. Each application will be considered individually and is not automatically granted. Applications for Work Placement that have already been completed prior to the commencement of the degree MUST be lodged within the first trimester of commencement of your degree.