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University of Portsmouth

UCAS Code: F800 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Entry requirements

A level

B,B,B-B,B,C

112-120 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels.

112-122 Tariff points from the Access to HE Diploma.

Cambridge Pre-U score of 46-50.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE English and mathematics at grade C/4 or above.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

25

25 points from the IB Diploma, to include 3 Higher Level subjects.

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H3,H3,H3,H3,H4-H3,H3,H3,H3,H3

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDM-DMM

112-120 Tariff points to include a minimum of 2 Advanced Highers.

Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.

T Level

M

UCAS Tariff

112-120

112-120 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent.

112-120 points from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate including 1 A level, plus the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate.

About this course

This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2025

Other options

4 years | Sandwich | 2025

Subjects

Environmental sciences

Physical geography

**This is a Connected Degree**
Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.

**Overview**
If you’re interested in the physical nature, characteristics and environment of the world, you can couple your interest with professional skills on this BSc (Hons) Geography degree course, accredited by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS).

You'll discover the ways in which our planet and its natural elements work, and graduate ready for a career in everything from environmental management to teaching and academic research.

- Use high-powered tech in our laboratories, including laser survey technology, drones, GIS and photogrammetry equipment and our environmental simulation cabinet – a controlled lab area that simulates different environmental conditions

- Tailor your final year to your own interests and career ambitions by choosing from a fully optional list of modules, including conservation biogeography, hazardscapes and weather science

- Immerse yourself in some of the landscapes and societies you’re studying through fieldwork, including in places such as Berlin, Malta, Sicily and Uganda

- Choose to study abroad at one of our partner universities in Poland, Spain or France, or build experience on a work placement at an organisation like the Environment Agency or Natural England

**Accredited by:**
This course is accredited by the Royal Geographical Society.

**Careers and opportunities**
Once you complete the course, you'll be ready for a career in a wide range of important fields and sectors, with technical and professional skills many employers are looking for. Our previous students have gone onto work in areas such as environmental management, business management, public services, teaching and research.

**What jobs can you do with a geography degree?**
Roles our graduates have taken on include:
- geographical information scientist

- environmental monitoring technician

- spatial analyst

- coastal process scientist

- urban planner

- transport planner

- geospatial consultant

- GIS cartographer

- quantity surveyor

- geography teacher

**Graduate destinations**
Organisations our graduates have gone on to work for include:
- Balfour Beatty

- Arcadis

- IBM

- Ordnance Survey

- Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

- Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)

- The Environment Agency

- The National Trust

- MoD Civil Service

You could also go on to study at postgraduate level.

**Placement year (optional)**
Either before or following your third year, you can opt for a work placement year to gain valuable longer-term work experience in the industry. Placements give you the opportunity to apply what you've learnt so far in a real workplace, boosting your employability.

You can work for a company or organisation here in the UK or overseas – some Geography students have chosen Australia, Spain or Malta for their placement year.

Whichever route you choose, you'll receive support and guidance. Our specialist team of Science and Health Careers advisors can help you with finding a work placement and improving your employability skills. They'll provide you with a database of placement vacancies, support with your job search – including help with applications and interviews – and support throughout your placement year.

You'll also hear guest speakers from potential employers and get support from students who have returned from their placements.

**Potential placement destinations**
Our students have completed placements at organisations including:
- Atkins Global

- Pfizer Research and Development

- Hampshire Ecological Services

- The Environment Agency

- Natural England

Modules

Year 1

Core

- Changing the World (20 credits)
- Environmental Processes and Hazards (20 credits)
- Exploring Landscapes (20 credits)
- Geographical Techniques (20 credits)
- Global Environmental Challenges (20 credits)
- Society and Place (20 credits)

Year 2

Core

- Physical Geography Fieldwork and Professional Skills (20 credits)
- Research Skills (20 credits)

Optional

- Developing Professional Skills (20 credits)
- Environmental Change (20 credits)
- Geographies of Development (20 credits)
- Gis and Remote Sensing (20 credits)
- Glaciers and Glaciation (20 credits)
- Introduction to Teaching (20 credits)
- River Processes (20 credits)
- Sustainable Environmental Management (20 credits)
- Uneven Cities, Planning and Design (20 credits)
- Volcanoes (20 credits)
- Wildlife Crime: Threats and Response (20 credits)
- Young People and Place (20 credits)

Placement year
Boost your employability by taking an industry-based work placement year with a relevant organisation or immerse yourself in another culture by studying for a year at one of our partner universities worldwide.

This is an amazing opportunity to either put everything you’ve learned so far into action in a real workplace or expand your horizons and set yourself up for your future career by studying abroad and becoming a student ambassador for our university."
Depending on what you choose, we’ll help you find and secure an exciting placement opportunity within an appropriate company or organisation, or you’ll expand your global perspective and develop additional skills to boost your future career during a study abroad year.

This is a Connected Degree

We're the only university that gives you the flexibility to choose when to take a work placement. Take it after your 2nd year, before returning to finish your studies. Or after your final year, connecting you into the workplace.

If you're not sure if or when to take your placement, don't worry. You'll have plenty of time to settle into your studies and explore your options before making your choice.

Year 3

Core

- Research Project (40 credits)

Optional

- Climate Change (20 credits)
- Coastal Recreation - Planning and Management (20 credits)
- Cold Environments (20 credits)
- Conservation in a Changing World (20 credits)
- Creative Economy and Urban Placemaking (20 credits)
- Environment and Society (20 credits)
- Environmental Assessment and Management (20 credits)
- Environmental Pollution and Waste Management (20 credits)
- Gender and Development (20 credits)
- Hazardscapes (20 credits)
- Introduction to Teaching (20 credits)
- Quaternary Geology & Geomorphology (20 credits)
- Weather Science (20 credits)

Changes to course content
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.

Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry. If a module doesn't run, we'll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.

Assessment methods

You’ll be assessed through coursework, examinations, contributions to electronic discussion forums, web page design, posters, projects, presentations, portfolios.
You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.
You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£9,250
per year
International
£19,200
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni

Course location:

University of Portsmouth

Department:

Faculty of Science and Health

Read full university profile

What students say

We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

84%
Environmental sciences
88%
Physical geography

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Environmental sciences

Teaching and learning

80%
Staff make the subject interesting
97%
Staff are good at explaining things
79%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
68%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

84%
Library resources
95%
IT resources
83%
Course specific equipment and facilities
63%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

87%
UK students
13%
International students
53%
Male students
47%
Female students
73%
2:1 or above
14%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

Physical geographical sciences

Teaching and learning

85%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
81%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
73%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

88%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
81%
Course specific equipment and facilities
88%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

96%
UK students
4%
International students
58%
Male students
42%
Female students
77%
2:1 or above
6%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

After graduation

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Environmental sciences

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,500
med
Average annual salary
95%
med
Employed or in further education
43%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

21%
Other elementary services occupations
10%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
10%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers

Physical geographical sciences

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,800
med
Average annual salary
99%
med
Employed or in further education
64%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

13%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
11%
Public services and other associate professionals
9%
Business, finance and related associate professionals

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Environmental sciences

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£24k

£24k

£28k

£28k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Physical geographical sciences

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£24k

£24k

£28k

£28k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here