MA Environmental Humanities

Ca' Foscari's Environmental Humanities is a two-year, 120-CFU laurea magistrale in class LM-1, taught entirely in English and described by the university as the first of its kind in Italy. The premise is straightforward: the climate and biodiversity crises are not only engineering problems, and the people who will communicate, govern and litigate them need training in history, philosophy, anthropology, literature and law as well as in environmental science.

The curriculum crosses disciplines deliberately — environmental history and historical ecology, environmental ethics and philosophy, ecocriticism and environmental literature, political ecology and environmental anthropology, environmental law and governance, and science communication, alongside foundational ecology and climate science so the humanities work rests on real physical understanding. A final internship is compulsory, and the thesis is written in English and is normally linked to it. Fieldwork in the Venetian lagoon — one of the most closely studied and most visibly threatened environments in Europe — is a recurring feature.

This is a capped programme, and the numbers matter. For 2026/27 Ca' Foscari set 55 places in total, of which 15 are reserved for non-EU applicants who require a visa, and three of those 15 are earmarked under the Marco Polo scheme — so realistically around a dozen places are open to an applicant from Sri Lanka. Selection is not by examination: it is scored on the CV, worth 60 points, and a 500-word presentation letter in English, worth 40. That letter is the single most important document in the file.

On cost, non-EU students who do not file Italian ISEE income documentation pay a flat annual fee set by country group — €1,300 a year for a Sri Lankan applicant in 2026/27, inclusive of the regional tax and stamp duty; the ISEE route can reach roughly €2,636. The genuine budget lines are Venice living costs and the roughly €6,900 annual proof of funds the study visa requires, plus a €35 application fee and a €200 acceptance fee at enrolment. Venice itself is the argument for studying the subject here: sea-level rise, over-tourism, subsidence and heritage under environmental pressure are all live, and the parallels with coastal erosion in southern and eastern Sri Lanka, the Negombo and Muthurajawela lagoon systems, and post-flood heritage questions are close enough to be directly transferable.