Human Geography Degree
Human Geography Degree - 3 year Degree Scheme (L700)
Human Geography Degree
Human Geography examines the everyday spaces which humans use, from the children's playground to the motorway hard shoulder; but it also addresses the major issues facing humanity today:
- Globalization;
- Sustainable development;
- Inequality and poverty;
- Geopolitics;
- Nationalism;
- Regionalism;
- Migration;
- Multiculturalism;
- Social and economic change
As a Human Geography Degree student you'll study the historical processes behind contemporary trends, draw together perspectives from different countries and cultures, and use different sources ranging from maps and statistics to film, art and literature. Human Geography students do not only study a varied and stimulating subject, they also develop a broad portfolio of skills applicable to a wide range of careers.
The Human Geography Degree at Aberystwyth is widely respected and has rated top in the country for student satisfaction in the 2007 and 2008 National Student Surveys. Our students have won national prizes and recent graduates can now be found lecturing in several British universities. Teaching is innovative and cutting-edge, informed by the research of the enthusiastic staff. A strong group identity is formed by students from the induction weekend onwards, and good relations between students and staff are reinforced by an emphasis on small group tutorial teaching and individual project supervision.
Human Geography Degree Year 1
The degree is mostly designed for students who wish to concentrate Human Geography themes, but the flexible modular structure of the course also allows students to develop their own particular interests in other aspects of Geography. Core Year 1 topics include:
- globalization
- unequal development
- sustainability
- urban and rural change
- the relationship of people with place.
Many students also take some Physical Geography modules, while others take modules in complementary subjects including International Politics, History, English, Economics or Management.
Human Geography Degree Years 2+3
In Years 2+3, most students focus solely on Human Geography, but some take a few modules from Physical Geography or other subjects. Year 2 Topics include
- residential fieldcourse;
- techniques of interview, participant observation and archive research;
- environmental and global politics;
- nationalism and the state;
- socio-economic trends in consumer societies and popular culture.
In the third year the required core is smaller and includes an independent research dissertation. Alongside this, you study a number of specialist modules, selected from an extensive list of options. The modules available cover all major areas of Human Geography, exploring rural and urban, developed and developing world, and historical and contemporary contexts - drawing on the research expertise of the teaching staff. Full details of the modules available are on the website www.aber.ac.uk/iges
While some lecture classes are large you are guided in your studies by Personal Tutors who provide a carefully constructed programme of supervision. A Tutorial Module is core throughout the three years, with additional individual supervision for your project and dissertation work. Library holdings are first class and a multiple copy fund and restricted borrowing on key books ensure that key texts are readily available. Like the University, Human Geography seeks to promote close and friendly contact between staff and students. A supportive community of Human Geographers is forged right from the first week, when staff and students attend a weekend conference at Gregynog, a beautiful country house in mid-Wales. There is an active Staff-Student Consultative Committee, and a flourishing student-led Geographical Society organises regular lectures from outside speakers, together with informal field excursions, a dinner dance and other social functions.
Field Work and Opportunities to Travel
We encourage all our undergraduates to develop a global and international perspective. in keeping with our status as a centre of international excellence, research and undergraduate teaching focuses on a wide variety of themes and environments - from Europe to the USA, from South America to South Africa, and from South Asia to Australia.
All single honours Human Geography students participate in a week-long residential field course in their second year, to either New York or Ireland. The field course introduces students to different environments and cultures, explores themes such as urban change, landscape and power, and migration, and also develops research skills and group work. Human Geography students also take part in a weekend conference at the start of the first year, based at Gregynog Hall in mid-Wales, which involves students in a 'Mock Earth Summit' and is an excellent way of getting to know other students on the course. Individual travel is also encouraged by a number of Travel Awards that are available exclusively to geographers to help fund trips worldwide during vacations.
Career Opportunities related to your Human Geography degree
Every effort is made to assist you to obtain appropriate employment on completion of your degree. Attention is given to developing transferable skills and to careers awareness as part of the programme of tutorial supervisions from first year to third year. The course at Aberystwyth is designed to enable all our students to develop the skills of literacy, numeracy and graphicacy that are central to a geographical education. Individual enterprise, group discussion and leadership skills are encouraged through a range of opportunities we provide in lecture, seminar, tutorial, library, field and practical settings. This allows you to realise your full potential.
Human Geography provides an ideal background for a wide range of careers, including the civil service, journalism, consultancy, planning, local government, management, teaching and charity work. Our graduates have gone into a diverse spectrum of employment, and recent graduates can be found working in think tanks in London, economic development agencies in Wales, and with charities overseas, to give just a few examples. Many of our graduates continue to postgraduate study, either on vocational courses such as planning, teaching and law, or for Masters' degrees and PhDs at Aberystwyth and elsewhere.
Our aim is to encourage you throughout your undergraduate career to participate in university life to the full, to direct your efforts to both academic and vocational outcomes and, in a demanding employment market, to ensure that as a graduate you are prepared, competitive and successful.
Available with: BA
- American Studies - LT77
- Art History - LVR3
- Business and Management - L7N1
- Economics - L7L1
- Education - L7X3
- Education - LX73
- English Literature - LQ73
- Fine Art - LW71
- French - L7R1
- French - LR71
- German - LR72
- History - L7V1
- International Politics (Joint Honours) - LLR2
- International Politics (Major/Minor) - L7L2
- Marketing - L7N5
- Mathematics - GL17
- Politics (Joint Honours) - LLT2
- Politics (Major/Minor) - L7LF
- Spanish - LR74
- Welsh History - LVT2