Time: You can start your studies within a week after enrolment. The estimated completion time for this course is two months. Please note! The course opens and you can start your studies 19 January 2026!
Enrollment for the spring courses is open till 14 June 2026, and you can start your studies within a week after enrollment. This course is also available in fall – enrollment opens in June and the first start is in August 2026.
Please note that lecturers will not provide guidance or assess courses between 1 June and 16 August 2026.
Place: Online studies
Scope: 5 ECTS credits
Required previous skills: Need to know that the earth is spherical and not flat!
Target group: Anyone interested in the subject
This course is completed independently online on Learn digital learning environment.
Please notice that only students with a Finnish social security number (i.e. a personal identity code) can start their studies on Xamk Pulse’s courses. You can read more here.
Credited in degree at Xamk: Bachelor of Engineering, Degree Programme in Environmental Engineering / All Bachelor level degrees
Area of competence mentioned in Curriculum: Optional studies
Enrolment by 25 October 2026, when there are approximately 2 months left to complete the course.
Fee: Free of charge
You can enroll for Open UAS studies for a maximum of 50 credits per semester. Enrolments that exceed 50 credits will be removed in the order of enrolments.
Xamk’s degree students who are present or absent cannot enroll for Xamk Pulse’s courses. Enrolments by Xamk’s degree students will be removed without separate notification.
”Introduction to climate change helped me to prove wrong many misconceptions and theories which are widespread.”
– Student from Montenegro –
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Learning outcomes:
You will learn about Climate Science, the status of changing climate and how it is developing over time. You will also learn about the impact of climate change. You will also get familiar on how you can study climate change, what the governments, IPCC and companies are doing, and your role and responsibilities towards the climate change. Finally, you will be able to apply climate change in your working and personal environment while being able to win the debates with climate sceptics.
Contents:
- Introduction to Climate Change
- Climate Change status and observation
- Global Carbon Cycle
- Climate Change projection and study
- Impacts of climate change on ecosystems and ecosystems services
- Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change
- Outlook, policy, and economics of Climate Change
Methods:
- There are no scheduled assignments and lectures, so the students can proceed at their own pace.
- There will only be independent works and no group works.
- There are no time-bound group discussions.
- The lectures are available at any time and there is no time bound for it.
- A five-credit course corresponds to approximately 135 hours of student workload. The number of hours is theoretical and varies depending on the student’s effort.
Study material:
The material is available in Learn platform.
Assessment:
- The evaluation will be based on assignments (40%) and exam (60%).
- The assignments are evaluated based on the ability to discuss the provided topics, and exam will be evaluated based on the creative and genuine solutions or answers presented against the exam questions.
Assessment scale:
0 – 5 (0 is failed, 5 is highest possible grade)
We will inform you about the implementation of the course by email. If you do not receive the message, please also check your spam!
Additional information on enrolment
Xamk Pulse, openstudies@xamk.fi.
Cancellation
If you do not start your studies, please inform us so that we can remove you from the course. This way, there will be no record of the course you did not complete. Cancellations should be sent to avoinamk@xamk.fi.
Transcript of records
The teacher has one month to give a grade after the student has completed all learning tasks. We will send you an electronically signed transcript of records within about a week after you have received the grade in the Peppi system. The transcript serves as a document if, for example, you are applying for credit for your studies at another university. Studies can also be credited at Xamk if you come to us as a degree student. See more on our website Information on Open UAS, Xamk Pulse studies.
This course is based on the curricula of Xamk’s degree programmes and the Finnish credits are fully compatible with the ECTS.
Please note that there can be changes in the course details in terms of the timetable and teachers, for example.
South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences is audited by the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC).