Geography and Environmental Studies Program

The main aims of the undergraduate program in Geography and Environmental Studies are to widen, deepen and promote an understanding of the physical and human environment while focusing on the intimate relationship between the two. It is also to assist students appreciate a set of values and feelings of concern for improvement, conservation and protection of resources for sustainable development.

The main objectives of the degree program are to equip graduates with a comprehensive training in the main branches of the combined discipline, namely, human and physical geography as well as environmental science. They are therefore provided with theoretical underpinnings, qualitative and quantitative skills in their spatial analysis of phenomena on the earth’s surface, geographic methods of inquiry, field survey techniques as well as computer application to geographic and environmental studies.

Within this context, the Geography and Environmental Studies degree (with the geographical bias) is a more practical–oriented subject with many more applications than Geography. Environmental Studies focuses on local and regional concerns and some continental and global environmental challenges such as desertification, ozone depletion, global warming and acid rain. This program is based on the concept that several threads of inquiry are of particular importance to the entire spectrum of relationships between people and the environment. Such a conceptual framework helps to address the program which is designed to be problem-focused, policy-relevant, holistic and self-evaluating.

Within the above framework, the program offers a strong foundation of the physical and human aspects of the geographic and environmental thrust that promotes the intimate interactions between them which ensures sustainable development. It also provides a wide range of practical skills and courses that are important in providing the required background to understanding spatial and environmental challenges. The program also emphasizes management aspects of this combined degree offering a variety of courses with a significant component of the applied aspects and opens up career opportunities in teaching, regional planning and other professions with strong global interactions.

This program is so encompassing a discipline that the content of the course offered is caters cross-pollination with many disciplines. As such students studying Geography and Environmental Studies related options/elective courses from the other departments of the University will be able to choose from the wide range of areas the program.