Geography with a Year Abroad

From exploring landscapes and how they are shaped, to interpreting satellite Earth observation and GIS data, to monitoring environmental changes from Space, the study of geography is more relevant than ever.

Why Swansea?

If your interest lies more in physical geography and science, our BSc is an excellent choice; if it lies in human geography and the arts, you may prefer our BA scheme. Both will equip you with highly desirable practical, numerical and computational skills for a wide range of careers. These include regional planning, environmental management, local authority work, financial planning, computing or business and retail management.

We are ideally placed to offer exceptional fieldwork opportunities. Just a short drive from the UK’s first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Gower Peninsula, you will have easy access to Bannau Brycheiniog, rural west Wales and the urban and industrial landscapes of South Wales. You’ll also have an opportunity to carry out fieldwork overseas in Austria, Berlin, Malaysian Borneo, Mallorca, New York or Vancouver.

Through this degree, you will explore topical issues such as glacial environments and processes, climate change, meteorology and plate tectonics. You’ll also get the chance to experience different cultures and may even learn some valuable language skills through your year abroad.

You will be taught in our £4.2m state-of-the-art Science laboratories, in a vibrant and friendly department. You’ll have access to our high-performance computer lab for processing and interpreting satellite earth observation and GIS data, a stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer, a climatic test chamber, mineral magnetic characterisation equipment and an automatic organic carbon analyser.

You will learn from internationally renowned academics including Professor Tavi Murray, the first woman to be awarded Polar Medal by HM Queen, Professor Adrian Luckman, who has achieved global media coverage for his climate change research, Professor Peter North, who received international coverage of his work with NASA, and Professor Siwan Davies, whose work focuses on the dramatic changes to our climate.

You can change between our BA and BSc schemes up until the end of Year 2. This degree is also offered as a four-year course with a year in industry (F273).

“I really enjoyed the variety of different subjects the geography degree offered. The care and passion that lecturers had was noticeable. The field trip to Sikkim was amazing and I learnt so many skills on the trip that have helped me a great deal going forward.”

• Louie Vaughan, BSc Geography

Please come along to our next Open Day or get in touch for further information.** Book an Open Day here: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/our-open-days/

Typically , in Year 1, you’ll study several compulsory modules covering topics such as global environmental change, people place and nation, global shifts and sustainability. You will then choose from optional modules covering geographical skills and methods, writing skills and personal development planning and practical field projects, and topics such as mobilities and migration, urban geography and geology.

In Year 2, you’ll typically choose from a range of optional modules covering data analysis, approaches to human and physical geography, and conducting social and environmental research. You’ll study topics such as geographic information systems, glacial environments and processes, creative geographies, quaternary environmental change, regional economic development and policy, boundaries and connections, global vegetation patterns and dynamics, political geographies, urban modelling and geological record of past environments. You’ll also have an opportunity to take part in an overseas field trip.

In Year 3, you’ll spend a year abroad at one of our partner institutions experiencing a different culture.

In Year 4, you’ll undertake your dissertation and choose from a range of optional modules which have previously included topics such as migration, security and humanism, contemporary rural Britain, geographies of national identity, glaciology, humid tropical environments and landscapes, meteorology and atmospheric science, plate tectonics and global geophysics, World cities, environmental modelling and the climate of the last 1,000 years. You’ll also have the opportunity to undertake an interdisciplinary field trip to the Indian Himalayas (Sikkim).

On the BSc Geography with a Year Abroad course you will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, practical classes and field classes. You will be assessed through a variety of methods, including examinations, coursework, practical work, fieldwork and continuous assessment from tutorials. You will also complete a dissertation in your final year.