Geography

Geography is the discipline that asks how places, people and environments are connected, and what those connections mean for the way we live. It is unusual among academic disciplines in spanning both the physical and the social sciences, encompassing the study of climate systems, landforms and ecosystems alongside questions of urbanisation, migration, inequality, globalisation and political conflict. The breadth of the subject is one of its greatest strengths, allowing geographers to bring multiple perspectives to bear on the most pressing challenges of our time.

At Sussex this three-year full-time programme includes a foundation year, a sandwich year, a year abroad and embedded work placement experience, making it one of the more richly structured geography degrees available. You will engage with issues including climate change, conservation, geohazards, food insecurity and the social geographies of place and identity, as the current description notes. The programme develops both quantitative skills in spatial analysis, mapping and environmental measurement and qualitative skills in ethnographic research, policy analysis and critical writing.

The sandwich year provides extended professional experience in environmental, planning, development or research contexts, and the year abroad extends your geographical imagination into a different regional setting. A typical entry tariff of 120 points reflects the programme's accessible character.

Geography graduates work across an exceptionally wide range of careers. Environmental consulting, town planning, international development, humanitarian work, geographic information systems, climate policy, government, teaching, journalism and the charity sector are all common destinations. The combination of analytical and communication skills, scientific literacy and social awareness that geography develops is valued by employers in both technical and policy-facing roles.

For those who want to continue their studies, postgraduate degrees in environmental management, urban planning, development studies, physical geography, climate science or human geography all build naturally on an undergraduate geography foundation.