
BA (Hons) in Geography (Human)
DURATION
3 up to 6 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 15,750 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* international full time | UK part time: £4,625 | UK full time: £9,250 | professional placement year full time for UK: £1,850 international: £3,150
Introduction
On this Geography degree, you’ll explore the links between people, place and environment.
You’ll engage with some of the most complex and challenging issues facing contemporary society including: climate change, environmental hazards, migration, urbanisation, social and economic inequalities, disaster risk reduction, coastal and river management, conservation politics, race and gender in society, and environmental justice.
Through fieldwork opportunities in the UK and overseas you’ll learn how to work in different contexts and to appreciate the links between local issues and global challenges. You’ll also develop specialist skills and learn how to apply the latest geotechnologies to real world contexts, preparing you for a range of careers and further study opportunities.
You’ll be part of our supportive Geography community, and you’ll be taught by our team of expert lecturers who are actively engaged in international networks and world-leading research.
Professional placement year
Overview
This optional placement year provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.
By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.
Gallery
Admissions
Curriculum
Year one (Level 4) modules
- Environment, People and Place
- World of Ideas
- Environmental Change
- Cities and Environment
- Sustainability in Life and Work
- Communicating Science
Year two (Level 5) modules
- Contested Geographies: Histories and Debates
- Geographical Research Methods
- Geomorphology and Environmental Hazards
- Climate and Society
- Geographical Fieldwork: Hazards, Disasters and Sustainable Development
- Geotechnologies for Society and Environment
- Spatial Development Planning: A Global Perspective
- Migration: Identity, Belonging, Citizenship and Security
- Social Problems, Social Divisions, Social Justice
- The Art of the Possible: Political Analysis and Policy Making
- Diaspora, Migration and Race
- Environmental Management
- Work Placement
- Professional Placement Year
Please note: If you are entering your first year in September 2024, the optional Spatial Development Planning module will no longer be available. Instead, you may choose to study a new module called Global Development and Environment.
Year three (Level 6) modules
- Geography Dissertation
- Advanced Geographical Fieldwork: Society, Culture and Environment
- Identities and Inequalities
- Coastal and River Management
- Disaster Risk Reduction
- Culture, Risk and Environmental Justice
- Community Engagement
- Gender in Society: Critical Perspectives
- Plants and People
- Environmental Practice
- Conservation Politics in Africa
Program Outcome
What you'll learn
Overview
Our Geography degree is designed to teach you about a broad range of topics and to provide you with the opportunity to choose modules in human or physical geography, depending on your interests.
You’ll learn from expert lecturers who are active researchers engaging with pressing global challenges including natural hazards, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation in Europe, Asia, North America, Central America, and Africa.
You’ll have the chance to experience international field trips and a work placement, through which you’ll develop practical transferable skills that are applicable to a variety of careers.
Course structure
Year one
Your first year helps you to transition to university-level Geography by establishing foundational skills and knowledge. You’ll develop these basic skills and knowledge through modules in both human and physical geography covering topics such as cities, environmental change and sustainable development.
Year two
In your second year, you’ll develop more specialist knowledge and skills. In core modules you’ll develop your understanding of the discipline of geography, learn how to apply geotechnologies to real-world challenges and develop skills that can be used in a wide range of careers.
Optional modules enable you to specialise in topics in human or physical geography, such as:
- climate change
- environmental hazards
- global development and environment
- migration
- race and social justice
- politics and policy making, or
- environmental management.
You’ll also start to plan for your career, with an opportunity to undertake an optional work placement module.
The optional field trip to Italy offers a unique opportunity to explore geographical themes in a highly dynamic, real-world context. On this trip you’ll learn about a range of topics such as earthquake disasters, flood hazards, air quality and pollution, climate change impacts and vulnerabilities, regional development, sustainability, and urban geographies. You’ll also have opportunities to experience the regional diversity, food and culture of Italy.
Please note that some of our field trips may incur additional costs on top of your course fees. Financial support for field trip costs may be available via the Bath Spa University International Travel Fund.
You can choose to undertake an optional Professional Placement Year between your second and final years.
Year three
You’ll complete a final year independent research project, allowing you to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you’ve acquired on the course. Students have undertaken their final year dissertation projects in locations across the UK, as well as in countries such as Canada, Brazil, Kenya, and Ghana.
You’ll have a choice of optional modules that give you the opportunity to continue to specialise in human or physical geography, exploring topics such as:
- disaster risk reduction
- identities and inequalities
- coastal and river management
- environmental practice
- gender in society
- conservation politics
- plants and people
- environmental justice.
An optional field trip to Barcelona allows you to study topics such as urban development, wildfires and cascading hazards, social inequalities, urban sustainability policies, city planning, coastal erosion, nationalism and independence movements, heat waves, Olympic legacies or urban flood risks.
How will I be assessed?
You’ll be assessed through a variety of engaging and challenging assessment formats designed to help you to develop key skills and to prepare for your future career or postgraduate study.
Your assessments will depend on the modules you choose, but may include a mix of essays, projects, reports, posters, presentations, video clips, field or lab-based activities, reflective commentaries or online tests.
Most modules are assessed primarily through coursework and assessment rather than tests or exams.
You'll complete many of your assessments as an individual, but there are also some group projects designed to help you to develop essential collaborative working skills.
In addition to the help provided by your subject lecturers, you can also access extensive support for your assessments through ASk, the Academic Skills Service.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
You’ll graduate from this degree prepared for a diverse range of careers in sectors such as research, consultancy, urban planning, business, education, surveying, geographical information systems, government, or non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The course also provides you with the knowledge and skills needed to progress to postgraduate study in a wide range of fields. Our graduates have undertaken postgraduate study in fields such as disaster management, climate change adaptation, sustainability, environmental management, environmental humanities, urban planning, education, public health and law.
Whatever your aspirations, our aim is that the real-world experience you gain on this course will set you up to take on diverse challenges, and to thrive in doing so.
Facilities
Program delivery
How will I be taught?
You’ll be taught in lectures, workshops and seminars, with small groups that enable discussion and collaborative learning. You’ll learn in the classroom, lab and outdoors, with fieldwork on campus and at locations across the UK and overseas.
Course length
Three years full time, or six years full time with professional placement year. Part time available.
Program Admission Requirements
Show your commitment and readiness for Grad school by taking the GRE - the most broadly accepted exam for graduate programs internationally.