Geography with a Foundation Year

UCAS code: FL87

Here's what Swansea University says about its Geography with a Foundation Year course.

From exploring landscapes and how they are shaped, to interpreting satellite Earth observation and GIS data, to monitoring environmental changes from Space, the study of geography is more relevant than ever.

Why Swansea?

If you're returning to education after a break or don't have the necessary qualifications to go straight onto our BSc scheme, our Geography with Integrated Foundation is an excellent choice that will equip you with highly desirable practical, numerical and computational skills for a wide range of careers. These include regional planning, environmental management, local authority work, financial planning, computing or business and retail management.

Our strong relationships with industry enable us to provide great work experience opportunities to enhance your employability.

We are ideally placed to offer exceptional fieldwork opportunities. Just a short drive from the UK's first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Gower Peninsula, you will have easy access to Bannau Brycheiniog, rural west Wales and the urban and industrial landscapes of South Wales. You'll also have an opportunity to carry out fieldwork overseas in Austria, Berlin, Malaysian Borneo, Mallorca, New York or Vancouver.

During the foundation year, you will learn about physical geography, human geography and natural sciences, as well as developing your study skills. After successful completion, you will progress to one of our main Geography degrees through which you'll explore topical issues such as glacial environments and processes, climate change, meteorology and plate tectonics.

You will be taught in our £4.2m state-of-the-art Science laboratories, in a vibrant and friendly department. You'll have access to our high-performance computer lab for processing and interpreting satellite Earth observation and GIS data, a stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer, a climatic test chamber, mineral magnetic characterisation equipment and an automatic organic carbon analyser.

You will learn from internationally renowned academics including Professor Tavi Murray, the first woman to be awarded Polar Medal by HM Queen, Professor Adrian Luckman, who has achieved global media coverage for his climate change research, Professor Peter North, who received international coverage of his work with NASA, and Professor Siwan Davies, whose work focuses on the dramatic changes to our climate.

"The Foundation year was hard, harder than my first year of the degree course in some aspects! But it provided me with all the skills I needed to start my first year, not only on a par with those who came straight from A levels, but with an edge. The broader spectrum of topics during the foundation year allowed me to get a feel for what I enjoyed, and what I didn't, eventually leading to the selection of more physical topics for my second year. I graduated with a 2.1 - something I would never have even dreamed possible 4 years ago."

• Max Moss, BSc Geography with Integrated Foundation

Please come along to our next Open Day or get in touch for further information. * Book an Open Day here: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/our-open-days/

In Year 1 you'll typically study introductory physical and human geography modules, along with broader introductory natural science topics such as environmental science and laboratory skills and data handling and mathematics skills. You'll participate in small-group tutorial sessions to learn about key study skills, such as essay writing, and current themes in geographical research. Upon successful completion of the Foundation Year, you'll progress onto the BSc in Geography. In Year 2 you'll typically study several compulsory modules covering topics such as global environmental change, people place and nation, global shifts and sustainability. You will then choose from optional modules covering geographical skills and methods, writing skills and personal development planning, and topics such as mobility and migration, urban geography and geology. In Year 3, you'll choose from a range of optional modules which have previously included topics such as data analysis, approaches to human and physical geography, and conducting social and environmental research. Other examples include topics such as geographic information systems, glacial environments and processes, creative geographies, quaternary environmental change, regional economic development and policy, boundaries and connections, global vegetation patterns and dynamics, political geographies, urban modelling and geological record of past environments. You'll also have an opportunity to take part in an overseas field trip. In Year 4, you'll undertake your dissertation and choose from a range of optional modules. In previous years these have included topics such as migration, security and humanism, contemporary rural Britain, geographies of national identity, glaciology, humid tropical environments and landscapes, meteorology and atmospheric science, plate tectonics and global geophysics, World cities, environmental modelling and the climate of the last 1,000 years. You'll also have the opportunity to undertake an interdisciplinary field trip to the Indian Himalayas (Sikkim).

On the BSc Geography with Foundation Year course you will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, practical classes and field classes. You will be assessed through a variety of methods, including examinations, coursework, practical work, fieldwork and continuous assessment from tutorials. You will also complete a dissertation in your final year.