Course details

Summary

Understand your place in the world

With a Massey BA (Geography) you will become a knowledgeable global citizen, ready to apply your skills to the world’s pressing problems.

Get a wide perspective

In the BA Geography you will study how we interact with our cultural, social and physical environments. You will find geography a diverse and dynamic subject, and will study issues such as sustainability, urban development, globalization and people’s lived experiences of their environments.

In stage one of the BA Geography, you will study both human and physical geography.

• Human geography looks at how space, place and landscape are both the condition and consequence of social processes;
• Physical geography looks at how natural landscapes take shape and change.

You will gain a solid foundation to understand the world as the product of a combination of social and natural processes.

Learn from a range of teaching methods

You can go on to specialize in either human or physical geography, or study a combination of both, and will benefit from interactive classroom and distance teaching, field trips and training in a range of research methods.

You will then take more advanced human geography courses, and expand on the themes established at stage one. You’ll learn about urbanization, state restructuring, globalization, geopolitics, agrifood, resource management and consumption. You will gain a global perspective from courses that draw on international case studies and examples, while maintaining a particular focus on New Zealand’s place in a changing world.

Get out into the field

In advanced physical geography, you will explore our dynamic natural landscape, focusing on rivers, glaciers, coasts and past environments. These landforms are explored in depth through extensive fieldwork-based courses.

Develop important career skills

Geography will prepare you to be a thoughtful and knowledgeable local and global citizen. You will develop important career skills in research, spatial analysis, and evidence-based examination of the pressing issues facing New Zealand and the world today.

Careers

With a BA (Geography) you can choose from a wide range of careers including:

• Conservation and environmental research
• Energy development
• Resource management
• Forestry
• Public service
• International development and diplomacy
• Local and regional councils
• Business and market research
• Teaching
• Tourism
• Journalism

Requirements

There are two distinct areas of Geography you will initially study at 100 level: Physical Geography, involves the study of the natural environment and Human Geography, focuses on social processes and people. From this base, you can choose to concentrate on either area or build a major around the combination of both physical and human geography.

Major requirements

A major in Geography consists of 135 credits (nine courses).

Entry criteria

Students must have successful completion of a qualification equivalent to the New Zealand Year 13 - NCEA Level 3 University Entrance.

English Language Requirements:

• IELTS score of 6.0 (no band less than 5.5)
• TOEFL iBT score of 80 overall (min 19 in Writing)
• PTE Academic score of 50 Overall (min 42 in communicative skills)
• Cambridge English score of 170