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Studying geography at university Simon Oakes

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  • Studying geography at university

    Simon Oakes

  • Studying geography at university

    Presentation outline

    Key facts about geography degrees

    Fairly famous geographers quiz

    The T-shaped geographer

    The geography knowledge base

    The geography skills base

    Geography career snapshots

    Geography degree pathways

  • Studying geography at university

    Key facts

    Geography-related degrees are offered by 80 UK universities.

    30,000 people study geography at university (full or part-time).

    Nearly 3,000 people study geography at postgraduate level.

    Geography graduates are less likely to be unemployed after their degree

    course than those studying any other social science subject including

    economics.

    The Labour Force Survey reports geography graduates earing an above-

    average starting salary compared with all graduates.

    Source: RGS-IBG website

  • Studying geography at university

    Fairly famous geographers quiz

    Home secretary

    and possible future prime

    pinister

    A well-known TV presenter and plate tectonics

    expert

    A modern landscape

    poet (ask an English

    teacher)

    A 1990s current affairs

    comedian

    THERESA MAY

    IAIN STEWART

    SIMON ARMITAGE

    HUGH DENNIS

    Briefly discuss how the study of geography supports these roles.

  • Studying geography at university

    Geography is a broad discipline

    Most geography degrees include a core of environmental management and

    human geography (societies and governance).

    Optional specialist areas are shown to the far left and right.

    Natural science

    (including applied

    chemistry, physics, biology)

    Environmental management

    (e.g. climate change,

    biodiversity, hazard risk &

    resilience)

    Societies and their

    governance

    (in applied global, national, urban and rural

    contexts)

    Place, culture and meaning

    (e.g. cultural geography, historical

    geography)

  • Studying geography at university

    The geography knowledge base

    From an employers perspective, geography students are well-informed

    about a range of contemporary topics.

    Geography students know what the big issues and challenges are for

    societies and businesses and are well-equipped to help manage an

    organisation.

    The next slide shows a Wordle analysis of the top news stories that featured

    in the Financial Times newspaper in 2014. What geography topics can you

    see? What does this tell you about the usefulness of geography?

  • Studying geography at university

    Content analysis of Financial Times 18 December 2018 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cf2036b8-86e6-11e4-8a51-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3TP3D64KL

  • Studying geography at university

    The geography skills base

    Information handling (working quickly with new information)

    Analytical prowess (making use of graphs and statistics)

    Critical thinking and decision making (management contexts)

    Structuring arguments (from extended essay writing)

    Cultural agility (having experience of fieldwork in different settings and

    contexts)

    Team work (during fieldwork investigations)

    Technology skills (using GIS and a range of software apps)

    Project management (individual dissertation at university)

  • Studying geography at university

    The T-shaped geographer

    A geography graduate has T-shaped

    capabilities.

    You'll have strong analytical skills, knowing how

    to interpret conceptual and data-based

    information. In a rapidly changing world your

    understanding of how human environments

    function globally and locally is highly marketable.

    A knowledge of how to read future socioeconomic

    trends and use computer modelling tools will be

    of interest to many employers. (Geography

    Review Vol. 28, No. 4)

    Find out more about T-shaped people here

  • Studying geography at university

    Is he talking about geographers?

    Googles chief economist, Hal Varian

    The ability to take data to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it thats going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades... Because now we really do have essentially free and ubiquitous data. So the scarce factor is the ability to understand that data and extract value from it. I do think those skillsof being able to access, understand, and communicate the insights you get from data analysis are going to be extremely important. Managers need to be able to access and understand the data themselves.

  • Studying geography at university

    Career snapshot 1

    Many well-paid geographers work in finance, banking and insurance.

    These industries rely on applied understanding of the geographical concepts of

    connectivity and risk.

    See Globalisation: a risky business (Geography Review Vol. 25, No. 4).

  • Studying geography at university

    Career snapshot 2

    Geography graduates occupy

    managerial positions with companies,

    NGOs and government departments

    that havesocial or environmental foci.

    Geography graduates bring a valuable

    mixture of knowledge and skills to the

    role.

    See: What can you do with a

    geography degree (Geography

    Review Vol. 28, No. 4).

    Student perspective

    Tom gained a BSc in geography from Oxford Brookes University and an MSc in environmental science from Kings College London. In 2010, Tom joined Thames Water on its graduate scheme. Today, he leads its Commercial Metering programme. Tom says:

    Having the skill to concisely present complex situations into bite-size nuggets of knowledge that you can pass over to an audience in a digestible manner will set you out from the crowd. My geography degree focused on getting this right.

  • Studying geography at university

    Plenty of possibilities

    Sectors Job titles

    Advertising and arts Civil service Energy Environment Finance and insurance Law Leisure and tourism Marketing and media Overseas development Planning or public service Recruitment Voluntary sector Water resource management

    Aid worker Cartographer Climate-change officer Commercial surveyor Emergency manager Fundraiser GIS analyst Hazard modeller Management consultant Market researcher Nature conservation officer Technician Town or transport planner

  • Studying geography at university

    Geography degree pathways to work

    Geography degree

    (BA, BSc)

    Employment

    Postgraduate degree in geography (MA, PhD)

    Conversion course for

    law or accountancy

    Higher Education provides several pathways towards work: which might you consider?

  • Studying geography at university

    Further links

    More about the employment rate for geography graduates:

    http://www.hecsu.ac.uk/assets/assets/documents/wdgd_soc

    ial_science_2014.pdf

    An amusing look at life as a geographer:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/24/why-

    geography-best-subject-study-university_n_5020334.html

    A newspapers view:

    http://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/jun/19/human-

    geography-graduate-careers

  • Studying geography at university

    This resource is part of Geography Review, a magazine written for A-level students by

    subject experts. To subscribe to the full magazine go

    to: http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/geographyreview