Search for a conservation degree on UCAS or any general university search tool and you get exactly what you typed: courses with the word "conservation" in the title. You don't get the courses filed under Environmental Science, Biodiversity Management or Countryside Management that cover the same ground under a different name. To find those, you are back to going university by university, checking course pages one at a time.

We saw this play out repeatedly in the WildHub community. People early in their careers, or thinking about a shift into conservation, would ask which course to look at, and the answer usually came down to the same three or four names. Not because those were the best fit, but because finding the rest takes more time than most people have.

So we did that searching once, properly, and built a list that isn't limited to the word in the title.

What we found 

Going through UK universities systematically turned up far more than expected. We stopped searching only for "conservation" and started checking course content directly, and found close to 280 individual degree and master's courses, spread across around 95 institutions.

That gap between what a keyword search turns up and what is actually available is the whole reason this list is useful.

What we built

The result is a full directory of UK conservation degree courses, organised by institution from A to Z. Each entry lists the course level, from undergraduate BSc through to master's, and links straight through to the official course page, so you can go directly to entry requirements, fees and how to apply.

It is not a ranking, and it does not tell you which course is best. It puts the full range in front of you in one place, including the courses a keyword search would miss.

Who it's for

If you are choosing between courses, it gives you a wider set of options than a keyword search is likely to surface, including courses that cover conservation content under a different name entirely. If you are already working in the sector and thinking about a master's to specialise or move in a new direction, it is a way to compare what different universities offer side by side. If you advise or mentor people looking to get into conservation, it is a single reference to send them, instead of reciting the same handful of names from memory.

It's not finished

New courses appear, existing ones change or close, and however carefully this was put together, a directory like this will always have gaps. We would rather it stayed accurate than stayed static. If you know of a course that isn't listed, or spot one that is now out of date, we would like to hear about it.

See the full directory: https://training.wildteam.org.uk/blog/uk-directory-of-higher-education-conservation-courses

Know a course that's missing? Add it here: https://forms.gle/EpA6GQsxGsJrXzgb7