Course overview
This programme offers the flexibility of our three-year BSc programme with an additional year abroad studying at one of our international partner institutions. The Geography BSc and BA share core modules and it is your personal interests and the options you wish to pursue that should shape your choice. Those choosing the BSc will usually have studied natural or physical science subjects at A-Level or equivalent but may transfer to the BA if their interests develop in this direction or (at the start of the First Year) to the BA Geography with Social Data Science pathway if they have the right grades including A-Level Maths.
In Year One you take five compulsory modules - two on Thinking Geographically and two on Geography in the Field, plus Understanding Our Planet. You can then take three optional modules from the four we offer, or you can take two of those and one module from outside the Department.
In Year Two, one or two compulsory modules are supplemented by six or seven optional modules selected from a substantial pool, including field classes. We put a lot of emphasis on research design this year. At this point, you may begin to focus on topics such as environmental and conservation management, remote sensing, geomorphology, and climate change. You may also take one module from outside the Department.
You will spend your Third Year abroad at an approved university.
Your dissertation is the main focus of Year Four, working with an academic supervisor to develop an original piece of research on a topic of your choice. In addition, you take further optional modules, including one from outside Geography if you like.
Please note that if you transfer to the BA Geography with Social Data Science pathway, you will take slightly different compulsory modules that specifically focus on quantitative methods and data analysis.
What this course will give you
Spend your Third Year studying abroad. In 2023-24 our 32 partner universities included Waseda University (Tokyo), University of British Colombia, University of Sydney, National University of Singapore, University of Helsinki, and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.
At UCL Geography our teaching and research engages with the world's most pressing environmental and social problems. Learning how to understand and respond to these challenges is more than an intellectual or practical exercise - it involves acting as global citizens too.
Our core modules will train you how to think and write like a geographer, to design and conduct research, and provide other practical and project management skills. This training, and a year living and studying abroad, helps our students find work in the UK and around the world.
We offer a wide range of modules and BSc Geography students can take any of these, including human geography courses, if they meet the prerequisites. Our low staff-to-student ratio (Guardian University Guide 2024) encourages individual choice and personal supervision.
Departmental resources include specialist computing facilities for geographical information and satellite image analysis, world-class science laboratories for soil, water and microscopic analysis, two common rooms, and a dedicated reading room. UCL supports this with first-class library facilities and other study resources.
