Geography with Year Abroad BSc (Hons)

First year

The modular structure allows you maximum flexibility in developing your own interests without channeling you into decisive choices too early. In the first year you will study issues crucial to the shape of the world and our place within it, such as natural hazards, landslides, floods, global environmental change and cultural landscapes, as well as contemporary urban issues using Birmingham as a real-world laboratory. There are also fieldtrips to the likes of Ironbridge and the Lake District.

Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Contemporary Human Geography
• Global Environmental Issues
• Environmental Research Frontiers
• Research methods, field work, and data analysis
• Tutorials and Study Skills for Geographers
• Widening Horizons Module
• Statistical Methods and Applied Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

The second year will provide you with deeper subject knowledge in areas of your choice. You will be introduced to specialist techniques such as computer cartography and the use of databases. You will also learn how to develop a research proposal, which may be the starting point for your dissertation in the final year. Training in more advanced fieldwork skills is provided by courses held in European centres.

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Research Methods for Physical Geography
• Research Labs and Fieldwork: Theory and Practice

Optional modules - Example optional modules may include:

• Geomorphology and Palaeoenvironments
• Catchment Water and Soil Management
• Ecological Systems
• Hydroclimatology: Climate and Water
• Environmental Assessment and Management
• Geological Natural Hazards
• Social Geographies
• Political Geographies (Sovereignties in a Changing World)
• Cultural Geographies
• Development Geographies
• Urban Policy Design and Planning Analysis
• City Challenges and Policy Responses

You will take a 120 credit Year Abroad based on module assessments taken at an overseas university. The allocation to the university abroad is based on student preference and availability of places. The Year Abroad is weighted at 12.5% of your whole degree.

Year 3

You will take a 120 credit Year Abroad based on module assessments taken at an overseas university. The allocation to the university abroad is based on student preference and availability of places. The Year Abroad is weighted at 12.5% of your whole degree.

In your final year you select from a wide range of modules that provide the more specialised knowledge and skills in the areas of Geography that appeal to you. You also undertake a supervised dissertation on a topic of your own choice.

Year 4

Compulsory modules

• Geography Research

Optional modules - Example optional modules may include:

• Advanced Fieldwork Research
• Urban Environments in the Global South
• Geography in the Classroom
• Restoration of Freshwater Systems
• Landscape and Urban Ecology
• Applied Micrometeorology
• Weather, Climate and Society
• Professional Placements for Geographers
• Environmental Governance
• Gender, body & performance
• Environment and Landscape Change
• Environmental Protection
• River Processes, Deposits and Environments
• Welfare, Work and Wealth
• War and Peace in the Middle East
• Wetland Environments
• Climates of the Past
• Environmental Justice
• Remote Sensing of the Cryosphere
• Alternative Economies
• Biodiversity and Conservation Management
• Cultural Geographies of Development
• Network Geographies
• Understanding Nature-Society Relations: the Ecological Century
• Geographies of Children and Young People
• Conservation Practice: Genes to Ecosystems
• Carceral Geographies
• Palaeoclimates
• Climate change in the Earth System
• Environmental Management: Theory, Policy, Practice
• Pollution impacts and waste management
• Russia in a Global Context
• Professional Placement for Environmental Scientists and Physical Geographers
• Cities and Conflict
• The political economy of agrarian change in the Global South
• Extractive Politics

Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. Unless indicated otherwise, the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2020. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules after that date; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.