Geography

Our Geography BA programme incorporates the main branches of geography while offering a wide range of modules, providing specialist knowledge within a broad interdisciplinary education. Students should choose predominantly human geography for the BA pathway.  

You will have the opportunity to explore some of the fundamental issues and global challenges facing the world today and develop skills that can be applied to a variety of roles.  Compulsory and optional fieldwork activities complement and enhance learning. 

Key benefits

• We have one of the largest geography departments in the country, providing state-of-the art modules in a wide range of disciplines.
• Exciting field trips include Spain in the first year and a choice of Hong Kong, San Francisco or Kerala in year two.
• You will be taught by specialists who are recognised leaders in their fields.
• Our recently refurbished accommodation offers high-quality teaching and social facilities.
• Almost 80% of our research has been rated as internationally excellent or world leading in quality in the most recent UK Research Excellence Framework (REF).
• Our central London location allows easy access to many libraries, cultural and social facilities.  
• Graduates progress to successful careers in diverse sectors such as financial services industries, non-governmental organisations and research. 

The BA Geography programme is divided into 15 and 30 credit modules and you will take modules worth 120 credits per year over three years. There are no optional modules in the first year, but there is a greater emphasis on optional modules in subsequent years.  In the second year you will choose a thematic pathway for the rest of your degree from Developmental Geography; Society, Environment & Geography; Urban & Cultural Geography; Geocomputation & Spatial Analysis.  In your third year you must conduct your own research for a compulsory dissertation known as the Independent Geographical Study (or IGS). Students are encouraged to carry out their own research throughout the degree. 

Year 1

• The Changing Natural Environment I (15 credits)
• Geographical Foundations: the making of the modern world (15 credits)
• Geographical Foundations II: challenges of the modern world (15 credits)
• Principles of Geographical Inquiry I (30 credits)
• Geography in Action (15 credits)
• Geography Tutorials: Critical Thinking & Techniques (30 credits)

 There will be required and optional field work activities offered to complement and enhance learning. 

• Required Modules
• Optional Modules

Year 2

Second year students are required to take the following 15 credit modules:

• Field Research in Human & Development Geography (15 credits)
• BA Geography Research Tutorials (15 credits)
• Geographical Research Skills (15 credits)

 You will then choose from one of the four following themed pathways as the basis for the rest of your degree:

 Development Geography

• Society, Environment & Geography
• Urban & Cultural Geography
• Geocomputation & Spatial Analysis

 You must then take the 15 credit module(s) associated with the pathway you have selected:

• Development Geography Pathway: Livelihoods & Policy Contexts (15 credits)
• Society, Environment & Geography Pathway: Nature & Culture (15 credits)
• Urban & Cultural Geography Pathway: Space, Society &  Culture (15 credits)
• Geocomputation & Spatial Analysis Pathway: Geocomputation (15 credits) & Spatial Analysis (15 credits)

 *Note: Students opting for the Geo-computation & Spatial Analysis pathway are required to take 2 x 15-credit compulsory thematic modules.

 Optional Modules

 You will also take further modules to attain 120 credits for the year, selecting from a wide range of options that may typically include the following:

 Historical Geographies of Urbanism (15 credits)

• Urban Geography: Exploring the City (15 credits
• Territory, State & Nation (15 credits)
• The Nature of the Environment (15 credits)
• Water & Development (15 credits)

Any of the other pathway modules

You can also take any of the modules from the BSc Geography programme, which may typically include the following:

 Natural Hazards (15 credits)

• Landscapes: Ecology, Biogeography & Management (15 credits)
• Climate Variability, Change & Society (15 credits)
• Environmental Remote Sensing (15 credits)
• Physical Geography: Earth Surface Processes & Landforms (15 credits)
• Global Environmental Issues: Science & Solutions (15 credits)

 Please note: Second year field research modules will typically have a week of intensive teaching on a residential field trip.

 You will also have the opportunity to study abroad for either the second semester of the second year or for the whole year. Partner institutions currently include:

 University of Auckland

• Hong Kong University
• University of Melbourne
• Monash University (includes study options in South Africa and Malaysia)
• National University of Singapore
• University Brunei Darussalam (second semester only)
• University of California
• University of North Carolina
• University of Toronto (full year only)
• University of British Columbia
• University of Washington (Seattle)
• Australian National University (Canberra)
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

Year 3

In your final year, you will be required to select a 15 credit module relating to your chosen pathway. 

You are also required to take the Independent Geographical Study (IGS) 30 credit module as a piece of individual research, which is supported on a one-to-one basis by a supervisor from within the Geography Department.

You must then select an additional 75 credits from a wide range of options, which may include:

 Health, Lifestyles & Cities (15 credits)

• The Right to the City (15 credits)
• Hollywood & the Post-Industrial City (15 credits)
• Geopolitics: Power & Place (15 credits)
• Economy, Society & Politics in 19th Century London (15 credits)
• Political Economy of Hazardscapes (15 credits)
• Global Political Ecology (15 credits)
• Histories & Geographies of Climate Change (15 credits)
• Environmental Risk, Governance & Society (15 credits)
• Economic & Social Change in Southern Africa (15 credits)
• Directed Readings in Geography (15 credits)

 Or any of the modules on the BSc Geography programme, which may typically include the following:

 Global Environmental Change I: Climate Science (15 credits)

• Global Environmental Change II: Earth System Dynamics (15 credits)
• Environmental Remote Sensing II (15 credits)
• Tropical Forests in a Changing Environment (15 credits)
• Desert Environments (15 credits)
• Advanced Issues in Natural & Environmental Hazards (15 credits)

We offer a range of optional modules, which usually reflect the research of current members of our academic team. This is in keeping with King’s reputation as a research university and also ensures that our degree programmes are relevant and up to date. Therefore, not all module options will be available every year and may change, subject to staff availability. New and additional modules may be added.

Up to 30 credits can also be taken from outside the Department subject to approval from the Chair of Teaching.

• The Attestat o Srednam Obrazov is not considered suitable for direct entry to our undergraduate degrees without further study (such as international A-levels, IB, or the first year of a degree with high grades in any compulsory subjects). Please consider our International Foundation Programmes (see below) as a route to our undergraduate degrees.
• Students with the High School certificate should consider applying for our International Foundation Programmes.
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