Geography

Our Geography degree is designed to teach you about a broad range of topics and to provide you with the opportunity to specialise in either human or physical geography, or to combine both.

You’ll learn from expert lecturers who are active researchers engaging with a range of pressing global challenges including climate change, disaster risk reduction, sustainable development and climate change adaptation.

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.

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, and learn geospatial data collection and analysis skills that can be used in a wide variety of careers.

Optional modules enable you to specialise in a wide range of topics in human and/or physical geography.

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 (dissertation), allowing you to conduct a piece of original geographical research on a topic of your choosing.  You can choose a topic in human or physical geography depending on your interests, and our expert lecturers will support and guide you through the processes of choosing your topic, designing your research project, undertaking your data collection, analysing your data, and writing up your results.

Students have undertaken their final year dissertation projects in locations across the UK, as well as in countries such as Canada, Kenya and Uganda.

You’ll have a wide choice of optional modules that will enable you to specialise in either human or physical geography, or to combine both.

An optional field trip to Spain allows you to study how local communities are engaging with issues such as climate change, water resource management, regenerative agriculture and sustainable development.

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, portfolios or reflective commentaries.

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.

You’ll be taught in lectures, workshops and seminars, with small groups that enable discussion and collaborative learning. You’ll develop your skills using our on-campus laboratories and specialist equipment. 

You’ll also have opportunities to develop fieldwork skills both in the UK and overseas. 

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our information on Your Learning and Teaching at BSU.

If you would like to gain international experience during your degree you can choose to spend an optional semester abroad studying at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities during your second year. This means that you can spend one half of your second year living and studying overseas. Our current partners for Geography include universities in Europe, Australia and North America.

During your semester abroad you will study modules in Geography at the partner university. All of our partner universities for Geography offer modules taught in English.

There are optional residential field trips in second and third year. Our current field trip destinations are Italy (second year) and Spain (third year). Some modules also include fieldwork in the local area including, on our beautiful Newton Park campus. Please note that you'll have to make a financial contribution towards the cost of residential field trips.

If you would like to gain real world work experience during your degree, there are two opportunities to do so. An optional work placement module is available in Semester 2 of your second year. This provides you with an opportunity to undertake a short work placement alongside your degree, and to reflect on what you learn from this experience. If you would like to undertake a longer placement (or series of placements), you can choose to do a Professional Placement Year (PPY) in between your second and final year. More information on the PPY can be found below.

Students have completed placements in the UK and in locations such as Madagascar, Guatemala, Thailand, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and the Cayman Islands. Students have worked with public and private sector organisations in a variety of fields including local and national government, research and policy, advocacy, sustainability and conservation. 

Guest speakers from industry and previous graduates contribute to your learning experience throughout the course. This insightful engagement with potential employers will help you make those all-important career decisions when you graduate.

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.

If you’re a full-time undergraduate student starting your first year at Bath Spa University, you can apply for the Certificate in Global Citizenship, which you’ll study alongside your degree.

You’ll gain global awareness and add an international dimension to your student experience, and funding is available. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be awarded a Certificate in Global Citizenship. This is in addition to your degree; it doesn’t change your degree title or results.

The Professional Placement Year (PPY) 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.

Before your PPY, you'll work to identify roles of interest and secure a placement. The Placements Team will support through timetabled sessions and 1:1 appointments.

As well as completing a minimum of 900 placement hours, you will complete two assessments demonstrating your skill development, growth in professional behaviours and how the PPY has impacted your future career aspirations.

You’ll be taught using our specialist facilities on our Newton Park campus in Bath as well as at field sites around the South West region and overseas.

• Lectures, seminars and workshops
  Teaching takes place in lecture and seminar rooms on our beautiful Newton Park campus including in the Commons building.
• Laboratories
  We have a number of well-equipped and recently refurbished laboratories dedicated to a variety of analytical applications spanning audio-visual data, soils/water/air and microfossils, to name a few.
• On-campus fieldwork
  Our location at Newton Park, nestled in a parkland valley setting just outside Bath, is a beautiful and unique 'natural laboratory' in which to pursue environmental education. Make the most of this setting by studying environmental processes on-site including at our stream gauging station and instrumented landslide.
• Library
• Commons building
• Virtual Learning Environment
• Specialist resources and dedicated Subject Librarian
• Writing and Learning Centre
• English Language Unit.

You’ll benefit from our excellent resources including laboratories, field tools, and a suite of IT hardware/software, all supported by a highly-skilled team of technicians. These include:

• Audio-visual data capture including cameras, dictaphones and mobile projectors.
• Monitoring of environmental parameters including noise, light, air/gas, pH, particulates, water, metals, and volatiles; using dissolved oxygen and conductivity probes, flow meters, an atomic absorption spectrometer, a gas chromatogram, and a scanning spectrophotometer.
• Hydro-meteorological monitoring including Automatic Weather Stations, temperature/humidity loggers, anemometers, infiltrometers, and dip meters.
• Survey and analysis. Hardware comprising Total Stations, Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), differential and handheld GPS and UAV. Software including ArcGIS Pro and Nvivo.
• Microfossil analysis using type collections and microscopes.
• Soil/sediment analysis using furnaces/ovens, particle size sieving, soil augers/corers.
• TourTalk audio communications system for use in field teaching.