Program Overview
The Geography BA (Hons) program at the University of Liverpool focuses on human geography, offering expert knowledge and skills in understanding global issues like globalization, sustainability, and environmental change. Through a student-centered approach and extensive field-based learning, students develop transferable skills that open up a wide range of career opportunities in research, consulting, planning, and education. The program is accredited by the Royal Geographic Society with IBG and boasts a Gold rating for educational excellence from the Teaching Excellence Framework 2023.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
Geography offers unique insights into many of the most pressing issues facing the world in the 21st century, such as globalisation, geopolitics, climate change, sustainability, health, economics, population, hazards, pollution, and natural resource management. The University of Liverpool is home to one of the longest established Geography departments in the world, with courses on offer since 1886. Our expertise in human geography spans population and migration, health, geodemographics, GIS, environmental economics, social and cultural change, urban and rural geographies, as well as political and environmental activism. Students on this course often choose human geography-oriented modules, and the core modules for this degree are focused on this area. However, you also have the option to also take physical geography modules. Maintaining a balance between the two areas of geography is an option many of our students pursue. You can also take up to two 15-credit modules per year from other subjects so you can maintain an interest in another discipline as part of your geography degree. From your first week to your final year, field classes are an integral part of your learning. Destinations include Barcelona, Lorca (Spain), Portugal and, closer to home, cities such as Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, as well as the Lake District and mid-Wales. There is also the opportunity to undertake final year dissertation fieldwork abroad. A number of the School’s degree programmes involve laboratory and field work. Fieldwork is carried out in various locations, ranging from inner city to coastal and mountainous environments. We consider applications from prospective disabled students on the same basis as all other students, and reasonable adjustments will be considered to address barriers to access.
Outline:
Year One:
- Compulsory Modules:
- Human Geography Through Merseyside (ENVS162) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Living with Environmental Change (ENVS119) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- New Horizons in Human Geography (ENVS116) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Research Frontiers in Human Geography (ENVS161) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Study Skills and GIS (ENVS100) - 30 credits, Whole Session
- Optional Modules:
- Contemporary Town Planning (ENVS152) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Ecology and Conservation (ENVS157) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Experiments in Physical Geography (ENVS120) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Theory and Laboratory Experiments in Earth Surfaces Processes (ENVS165) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Town and Country Planning: An Introduction (ENVS110) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Urban and Environmental Economics (ENVS155) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Global Challenges: Development, Inequality, Alternatives (ENVS144) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- COMPARATIVE POLITICS (POLI107) - 15 credits, Semester 2
Year Two:
- Compulsory Modules:
- Principles and Theory in Geography (ENVS249) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Research Skills (Geography and Environmental Science) (ENVS203) - 15 credits, Whole Session
- Exploring the Social World (ENVS225) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Optional Modules:
- An Introduction to Environmental History (ENVS223) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Catchment Hydrology (ENVS217) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Changing Environments (ENVS214) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Cities and Regions (ENVS230) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Climatology (ENVS231) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Environmental Sustainability (ENVS218) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Geomorphology: Ice, Sea and Air (ENVS252) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- GIS for Human Geography (ENVS257) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Political Economies of Globalisation (ENVS264) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Population and Societies (ENVS221) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Rural Geographies (ENVS227) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Social and Cultural Geographies (ENVS275) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Field Class (Edinburgh) (ENVS286) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Field Class (Belfast) (ENVS282) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Field Class (Glasgow) (ENVS288) - 15 credits, Semester 2
Year Three:
- Compulsory Modules:
- Dissertation (Geography & Environmental Science) (ENVS321) - 30 credits, Semester 1
- Optional Modules:
- Climate Change - A Critical Review (ENVS389) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Coastal Environments: Spatial and Temporal Change (ENVS376) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Bodies, Space and Power (ENVS344) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Fluvial Environments (ENVS372) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Geographic Data Science (ENVS363) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Poland: Political, Social and Cultural Geographies Since 1939 (ENVS313) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Building Better Worlds (ENVS387) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Human-Environmental Interactions (ENVS315) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Natural Hazards and Society (ENVS319) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Politics of the Environment (ENVS325) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Postcolonial Geographies (ENVS334) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Social and Spatial Inequalities (ENVS357) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Teaching Geography (ENVS308) - 15 credits, Whole Session
- Contemporary Population Dynamics (ENVS311) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Carbon, Nutrients and Climate Change Mitigation (ENVS381) - 15 credits, Semester 1
- Work-Based Dissertation (Geography and Environmental Science) (ENVS323) - 30 credits, Semester 1
- Field Class (Barcelona) (ENVS350) - 30 credits, Semester 2
- Fieldwork: Liverpool & Its Region (ENVS365) - 15 credits, Semester 2
- Global Geographies of Youth (ENVS339) - 15 credits, Semester 2
Assessment:
Assessments are designed around developing skills and styles of communication that will be relevant to future employers. So, in addition to exams and essays, you will also undertake assessments that include computer-based exercises, oral presentations, policy briefs, field projects, and research reports. Geography students complete a compulsory 10,000-word dissertation in their final year on a topic of their choice. This is your opportunity to develop skills as an independent academic researcher, supported on a one-to-one basis by an expert in the field.
Teaching:
To help you meet the intellectual and practical challenges of studying geography, our programmes are taught using a student centred approach, involving a range of learning experiences. These include:
- Small tutor groups (typically eight students) through all years
- High levels of field-based learning within the UK and abroad
- An emphasis on active, problem-based learning (‘learning by doing’)
- Hands-on experience of cutting-edge laboratory technologies in physical geography
- Innovative GIS, statistical and qualitative research methodologies and community consultation in human geography
- Supervised independent and group project work, including (for Single Honours degrees) a final year independent research-based dissertation supervised by a dedicated expert in the field. A number of the School’s degree programmes involve laboratory and fieldwork. The fieldwork is carried out in various locations, ranging from inner city to coastal and mountainous environments. We consider applications from prospective students with disabilities on the same basis as all other students, and reasonable adjustments will be considered to address barriers to access.
Careers:
Geography is a subject that bridges the social and physical sciences. Those studying geography develop transferable knowledge and skills which open up a wide range of career opportunities. By the time you graduate you will have developed core research skills in human geography, including surveying, interviewing and innovative community liaison techniques stand students in good stead for a range of employment destinations. You can explore the following work experience opportunities:
- Internships during the course of their degree
- Work-based dissertation – which combines the final year independent research project with a placement in industry. Students can also continue their studies at postgraduate level and PhD study with opportunities to apply for funding from a range of organisations, including the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) and NERC (Natural Environment Research Council). Geography is a subject that bridges the social and physical sciences. Those studying geography develop transferable knowledge and skills which open up a wide range of career opportunities.
Other:
- The Geography BA (Hons) programme is accredited by the Royal Geographic Society with IBG.
- We’re proud to announce we’ve been awarded a Gold rating for educational excellence in the Teaching Excellence Framework 2023.
- Day-to-day teaching takes place in the Central Teaching Laboratory (CTL) and Roxby Building. The CTL houses industry-standard equipment, including one of the few staffed map collections in the country, containing over 100,000 maps, 600 atlases, and access to digital data. Your course will be delivered by the Department of Geography and Planning.
- From arrival to alumni, we’re with you all the way:
- Careers and employability support, including help with career planning, understanding the job market and strengthening your networking skills
- Confidential counselling and support to help students with personal problems affecting their studies and general wellbeing
- 90% of geography and planning students are in work and/or further study 15 months after graduation. (Discover Uni, 2018-19)
- We believe in treating applicants as individuals, and in making offers that are appropriate to their personal circumstances and background. For this reason, we consider a range of factors in addition to predicted grades, widening participation factors amongst other evidence provided.
- If you are returning to learning, have had a disrupted education or are switching career pathways, the one-year Go Higher diploma qualifies you to apply for University of Liverpool arts, humanities and social sciences programmes
- Applications from mature students are welcome.
- 7 June 2022: New course pages
- 9 December 2022: Country field trip visits
- 5 January 2023: Modules updated
UK fees (applies to Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland)
Full-time place, per year £9,250 Year in industry fee £1,850 Year abroad fee £1,385
International fees
Full-time place, per year £24,800 Year abroad fee £12,400 Fees shown are for the academic year 2024/25. Please note that the Year Abroad fee also applies to the Year in China. Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching and assessment, operating facilities such as libraries, IT equipment, and access to academic and personal support.
