Programme Specifications

Programme summary

1. Programme Aims

• to provide students with an intellectually-stimulating environment within which they can develop knowledge, understanding and skills in both geography and economics;
• to provide students with the opportunity to study a broad curriculum in both human and physical geography and in economics;
• to achieve, through the student learning process, a progressive improvement in academic performance over the degree programme;
• to enhance students’ career and employment prospects on graduating by developing a range of transferable skills embedded in the programme.

2. Relevant subject benchmark statements and other external reference points used to inform programme outcomes:

The Benchmark Statements for Geography and Economics

3. Programme Learning Outcomes

3.1 Knowledge and Understanding

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the potential applications of concepts within a broader critical framework;
• the main methodologies used in the analysis and interpretation of  data;
• the idea of academic disciplines as dynamic, plural and contested; developed within the broader frameworks of the sciences and humanities;

and within the Geography portion of the programme: 

• a range of environments, in the broadest sense, of environmental processes and the impacts of these processes on human activities and vice versa;
• the ways in which representations and interpretations of the world are socially-constructed, and the forms of geographical difference;
• the determinants of temporal and spatial variation in the physical, social, economic and political worlds; and the significance of spatial and temporal scale on physical processes, human processes and on their interactions;
• past patterns of environmental and social changes, and of the processes and conditions that have determined those changes, and the implications for the future;

and within the Economics portion of the programme:

• demonstrate the attributes of a graduate in terms of possessing transferable skills, and the ability to analyse fact and opinion based on the evaluation of evidence;
• communicate knowledge and analysis in an effective and objective manner;
• analyse issues of economic theory and policy using up-to-date models and techniques.

3.2 Skills and other attributes

a. Subject-specific cognitive skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

1. Develop a reflexive approach to learning. 
2. Abstract and synthesise information.
3. Assess the merits of contrasting theories, explanations and  arguments.
4. Critically evaluate and interpret a range of evidence, including data and text.
5. Undertake problem-solving and decision-making.
6. Develop a reasoned argument.

b. Subject-specific practical skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

1. Combine and interpret different types of evidence including data and text.
2. Recognise and critically debate moral and ethical issues underpinning particular debates or enquiries.
3. Employ a range of survey skills for the collection of qualitative and quantitative data and to use appropriate methods for the analysis of these data.
4. Design and execute a piece of research and produce a report.

Additionally, within the Geography portion of the programme 

1. Prepare effective maps and diagrams using a range of appropriate  technologies. 
2. Undertake safe and effective field and laboratory work.

c. Key transferable skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should show competence in:

1. Verbal and written communication skills. 
2. Numeracy and computational skills. 
3. Field and laboratory skills. 
4. Spatial awareness and observational skills. 
5. IT and information handling and retrieval. 
6. Independent study and group work. 
7. Time management.

4. Programme structure

Candidates must take a total modular weight of 120 in each Part with a minimum modular weight of 50 in each semester, taking into account both compulsory and optional modules. Individual modules taught and assessed over both semesters with a modular weight of 10 may count against either semester 1 or semester 2, depending on the balance of other modular weights between semesters. Where the modular weight of a module taught and assessed over both semesters is 20, this shall be split equally between semesters. 

Due to timetabling constraints, not all option combinations may be available.

4.1   Part A - Introductory Modules

 Semester 1

 Semester 2

 (iii)          OPTIONAL MODULES 

5. Criteria for Progression and Degree Award

6. Relative Weighting of Parts of the Programme for the Purposes of Final Degree Classification

Candidates' final degree classification will be determined on the basis of their performance in degree level Module Assessments in Parts B and C. The percentage mark for each Part will be combined in the ratio Part B 40% : Part C 60% to determine the final programme percentage mark.