Undergraduate

Geography

Five Geography students walking the streets of Barcelona. They're turning to look at something in the near distance.
A bustling street in Hong Kong, filled with trams, shop signs and people.
Hull Geography student, Rhianna Phillips, reading a book while browsing the bookshelves of the Brynmor Jones Library.
Hull student, Te'Jay, in hard hat stands holding a pen and notepad in the deserts of Almeria, southern Spain.

Look around

Spread your wings and see the world on a residential field trip abroad. Recent locations include Barcelona, Berlin, Rome, Hong Kong and Malawi.
You’ll return home with extra confidence and cultural awareness. And the best bit is, the cost of all core field trips is covered by your course fees.
Study the key theoretical ideas and practical approaches to the major issues: from globalisation and sustainability, to climate change and geohazards.
Many students pursue careers as environmental consultants, conservation officers, hydrographers, flood risk modellers, and GIS technicians.
Get exclusive access to a GIS suite and teaching labs, where you can develop your experimental skills and work on your final-year dissertation.
Five Geography students walking the streets of Barcelona. They're turning to look at something in the near distance.
A bustling street in Hong Kong, filled with trams, shop signs and people.
Hull Geography student, Rhianna Phillips, reading a book while browsing the bookshelves of the Brynmor Jones Library.
Hull student, Te'Jay, in hard hat stands holding a pen and notepad in the deserts of Almeria, southern Spain.
Cohen Building Ground Floor Lab
Geography, Earth & Environmental Science - BA Geography

Code

Duration

Mode

  • Standard course
  • With a foundation year
  • With a placement year
  • With a year abroad
  • September 2024

Typical offer

What does this mean?

Discover the social, economic and political forces shaping the world. And apply your knowledge on visits to places like Barcelona, Berlin, Rome, Hong Kong and Malawi.

Accredited by the Royal Geographical Society, our degree focuses on topics within social science and humanities. Like sustainability and development, cities and globalisation, and people culture and space.

As a human geographer, you’ll study how society responds to environmental issues. You’ll discover a whole range of different possibilities and perspectives. And you'll understand how they compete with each other.

  • Top 15 in the UK

    for Feedback Satisfaction 1

  • Accredited

    by the Royal Geographical Society

  • Field trips

    to places like Barcelona, Berlin and Rome 2

  • Boost your CV

    with a placement or year abroad

  • 94.7%

    of students in work or further study 15 months after graduating 3

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Course overview
Module options

About this course

Geography explores the dynamic, complex and related physical and human processes that make the world work. At Hull, you study the key theoretical ideas and practical approaches. We specialise in tackling the major issues: from globalisation and sustainability, to climate change and geohazards.

In your first year, you get a solid grounding in both human and physical geography. You also learn geographical skills. In your second and third years, you can continue to do both human and physical geography, or choose to focus on human geography.

Throughout your course, you have many opportunities to join field trips. In your second year, you get the chance to do a residential field trip abroad. Recent locations include Barcelona, Berlin, Rome, Hong Kong and Malawi. In your third year, there’s the option to join the physical geography advanced field trip to Iceland. And the best bit is, the cost of all core field trips is covered by your course fees.

We also offer modules designed to help you develop professional skills. You can choose to do a consultancy project with an external company. Or go into schools to learn about teaching. Or develop your geospatial and modelling skills with GIS.

Scheduled study hours and how you’re assessed

Throughout your degree, you’re expected to study for 1,200 hours per year. That’s based on 200 hours per 20 credit module. And it includes scheduled hours, time spent on placement and independent study. How this time is divided across the year varies and depends on the module you are studying.

How you'll be assessed depends on the course you study, and the modules you choose. You may be assessed through a mix of examinations, coursework, presentations and group projects.

Choose your modules

Each year, you’ll study modules worth a certain number of credits, and you need 120 credits per year. Most modules are 20 credits – so you’ll study six modules each year. Some longer modules, such as a dissertation, are worth more. In these cases, you’ll study fewer modules - but the number of credits will always add up to 120. Some modules are compulsory, some are optional, so you can build a course that’s right for you.

Preparing for Learning in Higher Education

This module is designed to give you the best possible start to your university studies, making sure you have all the essential skills you need to succeed. Through lectures and workshops we will teach you how to write in an academic style, how to find quality sources, how to reference work, culminating in writing up a mini-research project.

Core•20 credits

Introduction to Geography

In this module you will get to explore some key concepts and themes in human and physical geography including key global challenges such as climate change and migration. Through lectures, seminars and practicals you’ll learn about our planet’s structure and history, environmental and social processes shaping the earth and human society.

Core•20 credits

Foundation in Data Analysis

Develop a strong foundation in data collection and analysis. This module will introduce you to qualitative and quantitative data and how to analyse it; the collection of primary and secondary data; the production of high quality graphics; and report writing.

Compulsory•20 credits

Group Challenge (Sciences)

In a group, you'll formulate questions that can be tested by scientific investigations and take part in weekly workshops with academics.

Compulsory•20 credits

Foundation Maths Skills

This module delivers core mathematics skills at level two and three to give a solid basis for future studies. You will study the following topics: manipulation of numerical data and converting between different units of measurement; exponentials and logarithms; and standard form and problems involving ratio, proportion and percentages.

Optional•20 credits

Foundation Mathematics 1

This module delivers core mathematics skills to build a solid basis for future studies. You will study the following topics: factors, multiples, indices, fractions and standard form; algebra, linear and quadratic equations; averages and spread; functions, exponentials and logarithms; and right angled triangles and trigonometry.

Optional•20 credits

Foundation Mathematics A

You will study pure mathematics topics, including proof, algebra, trigonometry, differentiation, integration, exponentials, logarithms, sequences and series. The applied topic is probability and statistics.

Optional•20 credits

Introduction to Biological Sciences 2

Explore a range of biological topics relating to whole organism biology, diversity and adaptations. Through lectures, workshops and practical sessions you will delve in to the world of classification and identification, natural selection and evolution, food security, population biology, environmental monitoring and human impacts.

Optional•20 credits

Research Project in the Humanities, Business, Education and Social Science

This module will equip you with the necessary skills to conduct and analyse research in a specific interest, supported by academics within your subject. You'll navigate through the research process, from identifying an area of interest to presenting their findings to your peers.

Optional•20 credits

The foundation year has been designed to prepare you for the first year of the degree. 
9 Modules

Human Geography: Worlds of Connection and Difference

This module will introduce you to key perspectives in contemporary human geography. It uses the themes of difference and connection to explore a wide range of case studies. 

Compulsory•20 credits

Planet Earth

A look at the planet we live on and its constituent systems and processes: oceans, atmosphere, biosphere and tectonics.

Compulsory•20 credits

Exploring Worlds Around Us

You’ll find out about many different ways of studying the world around us by exploring a specific field trip location.

Compulsory•20 credits

Landscapes of the World

This module introduces you to different landforms and landscapes found across the globe: from mountains and glaciers to rainforests, coastal and marine environments and deserts.

Compulsory•20 credits

Interpreting Environments

This module introduces you to some key tools we use to interpret the environments around us, such as computer mapping and data analysis. 

Compulsory•20 credits

Development and Change

Our changing world faces many challenges, especially in developing countries. Learn how geographers approach development, inequality, sustainability and governance.

Compulsory•20 credits

This programme offers a wide range of specialised modules, providing you with an in-depth insight into the important issues affecting the world around us.

Our BA and BSc programmes share a core first year, providing a thorough grounding in human and physical geography. First-year modules introduce you to key concepts and themes in human and physical geography, providing the building blocks for more specialised modules later in the programme.

We use a variety of methods to assess your progress, including exams, assessed essays, projects and extended research. Fieldwork is integral to our programme and all core field trips, including our second year overseas trips, are free.
6 Modules

Frontiers in Human Geography

In this module, you'll learn how to design a dissertation research proposal in order to carry out independent research on a human geographical problem. 

Compulsory•20 credits

Global Challenge: Living in the Anthropocene

You'll consider profound questions about the scale of the impact of human activities on our planet and the prospects for sustainable global environmental stewardship. 

Compulsory•20 credits

Cities and Globalisation

Using real examples of cities from around the world, you'll examine urban development patterns and processes in an era of rapid globalisation. 

Optional•20 credits

Representing Societies and Environments

How is the social and natural world represented? How does this effect the way we experience the world we live in? This module will provide you with the tools to analyse these representations, understand how they contribute to past and present power structures, and consider how they could be used to reformulate social relations such as gender, race and class.

Optional•20 credits

Sustainable Futures

Study key issues relating to the concept of sustainability and attempts to create more sustainable ways of living. 

Optional•20 credits

Environmental Change

Investigate how the environment, especially the climate, changes in the past, present and future through a combination of lectures and practical activities. 

Optional•20 credits

Geohazards

Explore what constitutes a geohazard, and the specifics of a range of natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, flooding, and climate-related hazards.​

Optional•20 credits

Physical Geography in Action

You will explore a range of physical geographical processes that have direct impact on human life, either through determining resource availability or by creating a hazard (e.g. hydrological processes underlying both water availability for irrigation and the risk of flooding).

Optional•20 credits

Geographical Information Systems

Develop your understanding of the principles and processes behind GIS, the nature and use of spatial data and the application of GIS on this practical module.

Optional•20 credits

Field Study (UK)

Discover new ways to look at our own area – five days of field work in and around Hull, East Yorkshire and further afield will introduce you to the data collection skills you will need for your dissertation.

Optional•20 credits

Field Studies (Human Geography)

Visit field locations such as Barcelona and Berlin, as well as UK destinations, where you'll design and conduct your own research projects. 

Optional•20 credits

The second and final years of our BA Geography programme allow you to specialise in Human Geography, while continuing to explore Physical Geography themes in one module a semester.

Second-year modules introduce you to core concepts in Human Geography research and give you a choice of modules from six academic pathways.

These pathways offer a tailored and specialised programme of study towards specific career or research goals. The choices consist of sustainability and development; cities and globalisation; people, culture and place; hazards; Earth surface dynamics; and environmental change.

There is also an opportunity to choose a module offered from outside the department.
11 Modules

Dissertation

You will make an original contribution to research by designing, carrying out and writing up your own project on a topic you choose, supported by your dissertation supervisor.

Core•40 credits

Green Economy

Explore different theories, strategies and actions to green our economy and society in response to pressing issues such as climate change, resource scarcity and social inequalities. 

Optional•20 credits

Geographies of Oppression and Resistance

You'll cover topics such as neoliberalism and the ‘War on Terror’, totalitarianism, institutions of oppression, the civil rights movement, suffrage campaigns and climate change protests.

Optional•20 credits

Adapting to Climate Change

Investigate climate change, its impact on us and our adaptions to it, as well as future climate change scenarios. This module uses a combination of lectures, PC practicals and seminars.

Optional•20 credits

Conservation in a Changing World

Managing and protecting the natural environment is difficult enough, but we currently face rapid and dramatic change in climate, environment and socio-economic structures. Explore the challenges of planning effectively for conservation in a changing world.

Optional•20 credits

Advanced GIS

Get a practical overview of the principles and applications of current surveying, monitoring and spatial analysis methodologies. You'll gain a practical understanding of how to use environmental and social science digital data sources and learn how to build a digital database, including methodologies enabling the processing of disparate datasets, and advanced spatial analysis and modelling techniques.

Optional•20 credits

Teaching Project

If you think you might like to be a teacher, this is just the module for you! With guidance from the University, you will have the chance to experience school from a teacher perspective. This module will help you get the experience needed to apply for a teacher training course to follow on from your degree.

Optional•20 credits

Advanced Field Study

You’ll research first-hand the challenges of harnessing human and physical resources in a developing country to meet the needs for sustainable development.

Optional•20 credits

Cities and Regions

This module introduces you to key concepts and policies related to urbanisation and regional development, focusing on selected examples from North America. 

Optional•20 credits

Food, Space and Society

Explore the production and consumption networks that feed the city, following food from field to fork. Consider the complex systems of farming, food processing, retail and consumption that feed us.

Optional•20 credits

Rivers and Management

A practical look at how we manage rivers, both in terms of the water they carry and their influence of a changing landscape.

Optional•20 credits

Volcanoes and their Hazards

Explore the key themes and current research-led understanding of volcanological processes and hazards, volcanic monitoring and management of volcanic crises around the world.

Optional•20 credits

Professional Consultancy Project

Carry out an independent research project with an organisation as you gain workplace experience.  If you like the idea of working as a consultant, this would be an ideal opportunity, but you will also gain an insider view of organisation hosting you. The module provides an opportunity to hone your skills at presenting yourself to gain a placement, negotiating a project topic, carrying out and writing up research.

Optional•20 credits

The final year of our BA Geography programme allows you to further specialise in areas of Geography you are most interested in.

You'll continue to choose modules from the six academic pathways.You also have the opportunity to spend one semester of your final year gaining real-world experience and boosting your employability by working on a project with an outside organisation from the private, public or non-profit sectors.
13 Modules

You will spend Year 3 studying at a university abroad. This is an outstanding opportunity to broaden your horizons within a different culture and environment, learn new skills and develop valuable international contacts while continuing your studies.

Spend a year on a paid placement between the second and final year of your degree. You could be with a company, public sector organisation, non-governmental organisation or charity. The experience will help you to develop an awareness of living and working in an environment outside of an academic setting. This is a great experience for employability, but will also give you new perspectives on issues relevant to your degree.

This course is accredited by

Playlist

Barcelona field trip

Course highlight 4 mins

Prof. Pauline Deutz

Course Overview 2 mins

Teaching facilities

University Life 1 min

Iceland field trip

Course highlight 3 mins

Entry requirements

What do I need?

When it comes to applying to university, you'll need a certain number of UCAS points. Different qualifications and grades are worth a different amount of points. For this course, you'll need…

Use UCAS's calculator to work out your estimated points

We consider experience and qualifications from the UK and worldwide which may not exactly match the combinations above.

But it's not just about the grades - we'll look at your whole application. We want to know what makes you tick, and about your previous experience, so make sure that you complete your personal statement.

Have questions? Our admissions team will be happy to help.

What do I need?

If you require a student visa to study or if your first language is not English you will be required to provide acceptable evidence of your English language proficiency level.

See other English language proficiency qualifications accepted by the University of Hull.

If your English currently does not reach the University’s required standard for this programme, you may be interested in one of our English language courses.

Visit your country page to find out more about our entry requirements.

Fees & funding

How much is it?

Additional costs you may have to pay

Your tuition fees will cover most costs associated with your programme. There are some extra costs that you might have to pay, or choose to pay, depending on your programme of study and the decisions you make:

  • Books (you can borrow books on your reading lists from the library, but you may buy your own)
  • Optional field trips
  • Study abroad (incl. travel costs, accommodation, visas, immunisation)
  • Placement costs (incl. travel costs and accommodation)
  • Student visas (international students)
  • Laptop (you’ll have access to laptops and PC’s on campus, but you may want your own)
  • Printing and photocopying
  • Professional-body membership
  • Graduation (gown hire and photography)

Remember, you’ll still need to take into account your living costs. This could include accommodation, travel, food and more.

How do I pay for it?

How much is it?

Additional costs you may have to pay

Your tuition fees will cover most costs associated with your programme. There are some extra costs that you might have to pay, or choose to pay, depending on your programme of study and the decisions you make:

  • Books (you can borrow books on your reading lists from the library, but you may buy your own)
  • Optional field trips
  • Study abroad (incl. travel costs, accommodation, visas, immunisation)
  • Placement costs (incl. travel costs and accommodation)
  • Student visas (international students)
  • Laptop (you’ll have access to laptops and PC’s on campus, but you may want your own)
  • Printing and photocopying
  • Professional-body membership
  • Graduation (gown hire and photography)

Remember, you’ll still need to take into account your living costs. This could include accommodation, travel, food and more.

How do I pay for it?

Our academics

Teaching on our geography degrees is research-led, skills-based and geared towards employability.

Our recognised experts introduce you to the cutting-edge of emerging geographical arguments. And they give you the freedom to follow your own research interests for your final-year dissertation.

See more academics for this subject
Professor Pauline Deutz
Featured academic

Professor Pauline Deutz

Pauline's research focuses on the political and economic aspects of environmental issues, especially how the latter interrelate with the capitalist economy. A particular interest is the building, and implications, of a circular economy.
Dr Divine Asafo
Featured academic

Dr Divine Asafo

Divine’s research focuses on urban/peri-urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of peri-urban land, everyday experiences of housing development, and urban disaster risks and vulnerabilities.

Take a look at our facilities

Flume Laboratory

This is the flume, a device for studying the bodies of water that dominate our planet. It's a 10-metre long tank that can simulate a river, a slice of coastline or a cross-section of sea.

Teaching Labs

You’ll have exclusive access to a GIS suite and teaching labs, where you can develop your experimental skills and work on your final-year dissertation. All part of our ‘learning by doing’ approach.

Map Room

The Map Room holds around 500 drawn and printed maps, including facsimiles of maps dating from the mid 13th century onward.

Brynmor Jones Library

Our 7-storey library is home to 1 million+ books, extensive digital resources drawn from libraries and archives across the world, and stunning panoramic views of the city from the 7th floor.

See more in our virtual tour

Look around

Look around

Look around

Look around

Cohen Building Flume Laboratory
Cohen Building Marine Biology Lab
Map room
Brynmor Jones Library Observation Deck
Aerial view of Barcelona, taken from a passenger window of an aeroplane.

Future prospects

You’ll have the knowledge to help tackle the planet’s biggest issues. To look at places with an expert and critical eye. And you'll gain a range of transferable skills. Add all these together, and you’ll be highly employable.

Many students pursue careers in the environment sector. Their roles include environmental consultant, conservation officer, hydrographer, flood risk modeller, and GIS technician. Others go on to work in town planning or as teachers. Some even enter the worlds of marketing, banking and accountancy. You’ll find them working in places like Siemens, Burberry, Lincolnshire County Council, the Met Office, American Express, the British Army, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and KPMG.

University of Hull Open Day

Your next steps

Like what you’ve seen? Then it’s time to apply.

The standard way to apply for this course is through UCAS. This will give you the chance to showcase your skill, qualities and passion for the subject, as well as providing your academic qualifications.

How to apply

Not ready to apply?

Visit our next Open Day, and see all that Hull has to offer for yourself. Talk to our lecturers about your subject, find out what university is really like from our current students, and take a tour of our beautiful campus and amazing facilities.

Book your place now

You may also be interested in…

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BSc (Hons) Earth and Environmental Science
  1. (13th) The Guardian University Rankings 2024.
  2. All core field trips are included in the cost of your tuition. Extra fees may be payable for optional trips. Destinations listed above are currently included in our list of field trip opportunities, but may be subject to change.
  3. (Geography and Environment) UK domicile full-time first degree leavers; Higher Education Graduate Outcomes statistics, for the academic year 2020/21, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency June 2023.

 

All modules presented on this course page are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.

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