Choose geography at university

There are many reasons you might decide to study geography at university:

• You enjoy learning about people and their societies, economies, cultures and the environment

• You are keen to learn and develop a wide range of skills

• You are seeking a broad based academic degree, offering good and varied employment prospects

What will I learn?

By the time you complete a degree course in geography you should have knowledge and understanding of:

• Why our human and physical environments and landscapes appear as they are, how they form and operate, and how they inter-relate at various scales

• How and why patterns of human and physical features differ from place to place across the Earth

• Differences and inequalities within the human world, especially the economic, social and political causes of inequality and economic development

• The importance of different spatial scales – global to local – and time scales for physical and human processes, together with their interactions and interdependence.

• The way in which particular places and regions have evolved to be distinctive

• How to observe, describe, analyse, represent, interpret and report information about the world

• Changes and stability in human and physical worlds, including the causes , rates and patterns of change and the prediction of change to the foreseeable future

• The world as an integrated system

• A variety of field and laboratory analytical approaches including techniques such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Fieldwork is an integral part of most courses.

What skills will I gain?

Usually in the first year of a geography degree you will begin with more general courses, advancing to more specialised research-focused courses in the following two years. Your skills will grow in parallel, so that by the end of your degree, you can shape your course to reflect your strengths and interests.

On completion of your degree, you will have a wide range of skills in preparation for work. These will be integral to your training, and to your employability, and will include:

• Intellectual skills, such as critically evaluating theories and judging evidence in order to make informed decisions and to develop reasoned arguments

• Research skills, such as using a range of technical methods for the collection and analysis of spatial and environmental data, and undertaking fieldwork.

• Transferable skills, such as teamwork, problem solving, IT skills, communication skills (presentation, writing, debating)

• Personal attributes, such as time-management, development of responsibility, coping with uncertainty, self-reflection, motivation, flexibility and creativity.