Undergraduate Prospectus Contents 3 Welcome to Lancaster 4 Creating a New Home for Geography (LEC) 6 Our Geography Degree Programmes 8 Geography Modules in Year 1 10 Geography (B.Sc. Honours/B.A. Honours) 12 Human Geography (B.A. Honours) 14 Physical Geography (B.Sc. Honours) 16 Physical Geography (Study Abroad) with a Year in Australasia (B.Sc. Honours) 17 Geography (with a Year in North America) (B.Sc. Honours/B.A. Honours) 18 Environmental Change and Sustainable Development (B.Sc. Honours) 20 Geography with Earth Science (B.Sc. Honours) 22 Biology and Geography (B.Sc. Honours) 23 Economics and Geography (B.A. Honours) 24 Modern Languages and Geography (B.A. Honours) 26 Teaching and Learning Geography at Lancaster 27 Geography Dissertations 28 So What Do Our Graduates Think? 30 Careers? 31 Admissions Information, Tuition Fees & Financial Support 32 Bursaries and Scholarships 33 Welcome From The SLUGS 35 University Life in Lancaster 36 Lancaster and the Local Area 37 Visiting Us 38 Further Information and Contacts Welcome! If you were to imagine the ideal location to study Geography, it would be surrounded by National Parks, probably be close to the coast, and have easy links to major cities. Lancaster satisfies all these criteria, and hosts an innovative group of Geographers within one of Europe’s strongest Environment Centres. We are very proud of our achievements and warmly welcome students aiming to work with one of the very best academic units in the country. The City of Lancaster is a very special, exciting but importantly friendly place to live and work. We aim to replicate these characteristics in our teaching programme. Welcome to Lancaster. Welcome to Lancaster Geography Graduates and Staff Geography… The Degrees Schemes at Lancaster... … are flexible. Something quite unique about our …is distinctive because it links the social and physi- degree scheme is the high value we place on flex- cal sciences, each with their particular knowledges, ibility and in ensuring that each individual chooses approaches and skills. This is crucial for addressing the a degree programme which most closely matches challenges of life today, ranging from globalization, their interests. We understand these interests may technological change and environmental issues. change over time. Whilst some students know early …graduates go into jobs for which the intellectual on that they lean towards physical or human geog- and practical skills gained in a Geography degree are raphy, others are less certain. At the end of Part One, advantageous. Geographers’ careers are many and students have the chance to change the direction of varied, including jobs in research, the Environment their degree. This is partly dictated by the Part 1 sub- Agency, environmental consultancy, marketing, gov- jects studied, but most students will have the oppor- ernment, teaching, and more…. tunity to continue with their UCAS choice of degree scheme; change to a different Geography degree scheme; take up their minor subject as their main Geography at Lancaster … degree; or combine Geography with an additional …will inspire and encourage you to develop both per- Part 1 subject to do a non-standard joint honours sonally and intellectually. degree. …..is a thriving academic community of which our ….allow you to gain practical experience of a range of students are key members. The open and friendly environments through an extensive programme of field atmosphere allows high levels of interaction between courses visiting cities like Amsterdam, New York and Paris, and challenging rural environments like northern students, academic staff, researchers and support staff. 3 and southern Spain, Croatia and Iceland. ….offers you the chance to work in a new purpose-built building which forms part of the Lancaster Environment …allow you to take optional courses including ‘Com- Centre (LEC). municating Geography’ in which you teach geogra- phy as a classroom assistant in a local school and our Geography Teaching at Lancaster … industrial placement courses (see page 28). …. offer North American and Australasian exchange …is ‘Excellent’ and received the highest possible schemes, an opportunity to master a different educa- score in the latest official inspection of UK Geography tional and cultural environment, and to develop intel- departments. Our strong international reputation for our lectually, personally and socially. research is important in ensuring high quality teaching and provides us with fresh ideas and approaches for our degree programmes. “The thing I love about working with ….offers stimulating, high-quality and innovative students is that we’re all in the learning teaching that builds on students’ diverse learning process together, which makes it really enjoyable. Our approach to teaching approaches. at Lancaster is based on the belief that we can all learn from each other, and …. is award winning, Dr. Andrew Folkard has won the that you don’t have to be dull to be intellectually rigorous.” Pilkington Prize for teaching and a prestigious National Dr. Andrew Folkard winner Pilkington Prize in Teaching Teaching Fellowship. and National Teaching Fellowship Creating a New Home for Geography: The Lancaster environment Centre (LEC) The LEC Concept At Lancaster, Geography operates within the broader opportunities afforded through the Lancaster Environ- framework of the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC). ment Centre allow you to explore almost every pos- This was formed as part of an £8.25 million project by sible corner of the geographical discipline. placing Geography, Biological Sciences and Environ- mental Science under the same operational umbrella. Being a part of LEC gives Geography the advan- tage of major economies of scale while still remain- ing accessible and friendly to our students. The new Geography building provides greatly enhanced facili- ties and high specification offices, teaching rooms, laboratories and communal space. Spin-out of Environmental Solutions The LEC Knowledge Business Building (KBB) which is attached to Geography, houses businesses which wish to take advantage of the Centre’s environmental expertise. This is where the LEC’s pioneering research 4 can be utilised directly to formulate environmental solu- tions to World issues. Student Learning in LEC Geography students now also have an enhanced range of courses available across the wide rang- ing disciplines of LEC from which they may chose to study. Perhaps if you are predominantly interested in physical Geography, you may find yourself interested in taking modules offered by Environmental Science or Biological Sciences. Alternatively, if you are more interested in the social side to Geography, you find yourself signing up for a course which enables you to study the anthropology of society and understand the environmental context in which different cultures exist. Geography is a diverse and varied subject – the Learning and Work Placements Through the Knowledge Business Centre Our students can also take, as part of their geography degree, the LEC module ‘Enterprise for the Environment’. This is taught through our Knowledge Business Centre and focuses on development of the academic and practical skills relevant to gaining employment with companies and organizations specializing in environmental issues. We also offer our students the option of undertaking their final year dissertation as part of a work place- ment. This is organised using the contacts secured through the Knowledge Business Centre and gives students a fantastic opportunity to undertake a novel research project housed within a company seek- ing environmental solutions to real problems. Recent projects offered to students included investigation into the efficacy of desalinisation units; determining barriers to investment in renewable technologies; product life cycle assessments; Rainwater harvesting solutions; Soil 5 management and subsistence farming in Uganda. Our Geography Degree Programmes Geography Degrees. Overall Format of Degrees: B.Sc. Geography (UCAS code: F800) Year 1 B.A. Geography (UCAS code: L700) Most of our students chose to take the ‘Double Part B.A. Human Geography (UCAS code: L720) 1’ in Geography – i.e. they spend two thirds of their B.Sc. Physical Geography (UCAS code: F840) first year taking Geography modules leaving one B.Sc. Physical Geography (Study Abroad) with a third available to choose a ‘minor’ subject in another Year in Australasia (UCAS code: F847)# department. There are over 50 minor subjects to B.Sc. or B.A. Geography (North America) choose from, and we offer personal advice to help you (UCAS codes, F802/L701) decide. Most students select subjects related to their 6 B.Sc. Environmental Change and Sustainable main degree. Human geographers normally choose Development (UCAS code: F775) arts or social sciences such as history, psychology, education, sociology, politics, marketing or information Joint Degrees. technology. Physical geographers tend towards sci- ence subjects like environmental or biological sciences, mathematics or statistics, or information technology. B.Sc. Geography with Earth Science This distinctive system offers a breadth of education (UCAS code: F8F6) that many employers appreciate. B.Sc. Biology and Geography (UCAS code: CF18) In Part 1, students can expect 15 contact hours per B.A. Economics and Geography week, of which approximately 9 will be in Geography (UCAS code: LL71) and the remainder from the minor subject. Each official B.A. French Studies and Geography contact hour should be supplemented