Geographical Tripos - University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge: Programme Specifications
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GEOGRAPHICAL TRIPOS
1 Awarding body University of Cambridge
2 Teaching institution Department of Geography
3 Accreditation details None
4 Name of final award Bachelor of Arts
5 Programme title Geographical Tripos
6 UCAS code L700 BA/G
7 JACS code(s) L700
8 Relevant QAA benchmark statement(s) Geography
9 Qualifications framework level 6 (Honours)
10 Date specification produced/
June 2011
last revised
11 Date specification last reviewed June 2011
Educational Aims of Programme
The Geographical Tripos is taught over three years in Parts IA (1 st year), IB (2 nd year) and II
(3 rd year).
The Department of Geography aims to provide education of the highest calibre for its
students, and to underpin that teaching with high quality research activity across the whole
range of the discipline. Through the structure of the Geographical Tripos it aims:
• to provide a balanced and rigorous education and training in the full range of the subject
matter of Geography;
• to provide opportunities for undergraduates to explore areas of the discipline to such a
depth as to lead them towards the research literature and research frontiers;
• to provide training in a variety of skills that equip students to learn more as Geographers
about the significance of place, and about the interdependence of the world, in terms of
both interactions amongst environmental and human systems, and relationships across a
wide range of time and space scales [2.2, 2.3]; 1
• to stimulate an attitude of intellectual enquiry by encouraging undergraduates in their
individual reading, analysis and problem solving [2.3].
These aims are achieved by combining treatment of theoretical and conceptual
developments in the subject, with empirical investigations, and the experience of
geographical problems in both field and laboratory.
Programme outcomes
1 Numbers in brackets cross-reference to the Benchmark Statement in Geography
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Knowledge and Understanding
The Geographical Tripos is designed to ensure that, at the end of their course, students will
have acquired knowledge and developed understanding of the following:
• The reciprocal relationships between physical and human aspects of environment
and landscapes [3.2]. This is provided in particular through courses in environmental
and cultural geography. The first-year course, for example, aims explicitly to introduce
students to ideas regarding the changing relationship of people to their environment via
the concept of ‘resources’, approached from ecological, economic and political
perspectives. Students also develop an understanding of socially constructed ways of
representing and interpreting the world, for example through papers comprising lectures
and teaching material on Cultural Geography and the Social Engagement with Nature.
• The concept of spatial variation [3.3]. Through physical geography courses across the
Tripos students are taught about the pattern and dynamic nature of spatial variation in the
physical world; for example, courses in Earth Observation, and Biogeography cover the
acquisition, processing, integration, validation and interpretation of diverse kinds of
spatial data. Human geography courses, both individually and across the sub-discipline,
enable the appreciation of spatial variation across economic, social and political activity at
a variety of scales. Explanations for spatial variation are a key consideration of residential
fieldclasses.
• The constitution of place and an appreciation of inequality between people and
places, [3.4, 3.8] and the way in which places are continually evolving. These themes
are taught across papers in human geography, in courses which discuss, for example,
poverty and social exclusion in Britain, the causes and consequences of urban
transformations in different contexts and theories of development in non-western
societies.
• The patterns, processes, interactions and change within the world system [3.5]
The first-year course in physical geography provides an introduction to the components of
the Earth System, which are explored in greater depth in later stages of the course, for
example, through papers comprising lectures and teaching material on glacial systems,
atmospheric processes, coastal dynamics , biogeography or quaternary environments.
Natural impacts on human activity are studied specifically through a paper on
environmental hazard and risk, and indirectly in other papers within the Tripos.
• The significance of spatial and temporal scale and an appreciation of change [3.6,
3.7] These are integral components across most of the courses offered. For example the
first-year human geography course focuses on the geographical extent of, and
explanations for, the increasing globalization of the contemporary world and the multiple
restructurings involved at a range of spatial scales. At the same time, notions of
temporal scale are explored in lectures and teaching material on historical geography,
and through a range of papers in environmental and physical geography, which examine
the processes influential in moulding the landscape through time.
• The nature of the discipline. [3.9] The dynamic, plural and contested nature of
Geography, its development as an academic subject and its relationships with other
subjects within the natural and social sciences are concepts introduced to first year
students within the two compulsory papers. For second year students there is a
compulsory and examined paper on Geographical Ideas which extends their
understanding of these issues.
• The application of geography [3.10-3.13]. Both in lecture courses and particularly
through the practical courses which form an important component of the first two years,
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Skills
students have the opportunity to develop knowledge of field, laboratory, archival,
cartographic, statistical, computing, modelling, remote sensing and GIS techniques.
They learn the appropriate application of these techniques in addressing specific
geographical questions, and obtain direct experience of both quantitative and qualitative
methodologies.
The Geographical Tripos aims to enable undergraduates to develop both analytical skills
which allow particular problems to be dissected into their constituent parts (in order that
particular linkages and relationships can be understood), and synthesising skills which allow
a more holistic grasp of the nature of problems and locations to be achieved. More
specifically, on completing the programme we want students to have developed a wide range
of skills [4.4], grouped as follows:
Intellectual skills:
Practical skills:
Transferable skills:
Interpretative skills - the ability to read, analyse, deconstruct and
understand texts of all kinds - from the written word, to the physical and
human landscape and representations thereof.
Literacy - the presentation of ideas and arguments and the synthesis
of information from disparate sources, in a narrative form which is
logical, structured and coherent.
Research skills - the collection, recording, processing, interpreting
and presenting of data, together with bibliographic skills.
Numeracy - quantitative and statistical analysis, solving numerical
problems, error analysis.
Computing skills, including basic computer programming and the
ability to use applications software such as word-processing,
databases and spreadsheets.
Graphical skills - including GIS and cartographic skills, used to
display geographical data to aid its interpretation.
Laboratory and fieldwork skills, including the practical use of
specialist equipment.
Communication skills - both verbal and written skills, enabling
students to express themselves clearly and effectively.
Organizational skills - self-assessment, working independently,
responsibility, initiative and time-management.
Interpersonal skills such as teamwork, leadership, negotiating,
networking, managing people and resources.
Skills linked to particular courses are clearly identified in the course guide issued to students
at the beginning of each year.
Teaching and Learning Methods
Knowledge and understanding, together with the acquisition of skills takes place through
lectures, seminars, practical laboratory and computer sessions, supervisions and field
classes, as well as through written guidance. Interpretive, literacy, research and
communication skills are taught across the whole range of courses, with the acquisition of
numeracy an explicit aspect of all physical geography courses. Practical skills are taught
particularly in the methods and fieldwork aspects of the programme, while specific
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development of transferable skills takes place especially through coursework projects and
fieldwork, and most importantly through the final-year dissertation
Assessment methods
Assessment takes place partly through informal verbal feedback to students during
supervisions, in practicals and during field classes. Supervisions are also an essential
vehicle for on-going formative assessment, both through essays and termly written reports.
Summative assessment takes different forms. Most papers involve end-of-year three-hour
written examinations which aim to assess knowledge and understanding of material
introduced in the various lecture courses; some Part IB and Part II papers contain additional
coursework elements. At Part IA students also submit five practical exercises, which
examine the understanding of the appropriate use of various methods, their limitations and
the technical issues surrounding them, as well as skills such as numeracy and graphical
abilities. At Part IB, students submit three practical exercises, one of which is based on
material collected on a residential fieldtrip. In addition, an open book examination specifically
assesses the ability to research, synthesise, discuss and critically evaluate the philosophical
and methodological bases of a particular area of geographical enquiry. Finally at Part IB,
students submit a 1000-word dissertation proposal which assesses their ability to produce a
viable undergraduate-level research project. The submission of a dissertation during the final
year is seen as the culmination of a course that leads students through the transition from
receipt of knowledge to personal discovery of knowledge, leaving them with the ability to
design, execute and report on an independent enquiry in a manner that equips them with
skills appropriate to research, the professions, public service or business and industry.
Programme structure
Part IA is essentially a foundation year. There is no choice at this stage, in order that all
students acquire the same basic grounding, and in order that new areas of the subject not
covered in the school curricula can be introduced prior to in-depth study in Part IB. Two
papers are taken. Paper 1 covers human geography, including urban and economic
geography, historical geography, cultural geography, society, environment and development
and political geography. Paper 2 covers physical geography, including the earth, oceans and
coasts, land and water, the cryosphere, and environmental change
Part IB is designed to develop a greater depth of knowledge and understanding of the
discipline; it allows some specialization, although the choice is deliberately and logically
constrained. There is a compulsory, assessed, paper on Geographical Ideas in which
students are encouraged to develop an understanding of the broader relevance of
geographical ideas and methods Students also choose four other papers, including at least
one paper from each of two groups. Group A, which is concerned broadly with human
geography, contains papers on Cities; Understanding the Economy: Contemporary
Geographies of Capitalism; Development; Geography and Public Policy; and Culture and
Society. Group B, which is concerned broadly with physical and environmental geography,
contains papers on Processes in the Climate System, Glacial Processes:; Environmental
Hazards; Rivers and Coasts; and Biogeography.
Finally, in Part II students may either specialize further, or they may maintain a balance
across the subject as a whole, selecting four papers freely from among a range of twelve
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papers on offer. These papers are closely related to the research interests of the teaching
staff, so display considerable depth of treatment, and deal with current research issues [3.1].
The choice varies from year to year, but each year includes papers which cover the breadth
of the discipline. In addition, each student writes a dissertation on an approved topic that he
or she has chosen. This requires basic, original research, usually undertaken in the summer
vacation preceding the final year. This is an opportunity to exploit the theoretical
understanding gained in the lecture courses, to apply some of the empirical and analytical
methods learnt in practical and field classes, and to present a synthesis of material which
displays interpretative, numerate, graphic and literary abilities to good advantage.
Further details of particular papers, including structure, course aims, modes and objectives of
assessment, and content is provided for students each year, both in written form and through
the departmental intranet.
Entry Requirements
Admission is through the Colleges and is based on the written application, the reference,
achievement at GCSE or in equivalent examinations, achievement at A-level or in equivalent
examinations, and one or more interviews. A typical A-level offer is AAA. Normally
between 90 and 100 students are admitted each year. Students transferring into Geography
from another Cambridge Tripos may either take Part II in their third year, or take the
Preliminary Examination to Part II in their second year, prior to taking Part II in their final
year.
Progression requirements
A student may be a candidate for honours in Part IB in the year after obtaining honours either
in Part IA Geography or in another Honours Examination. A student may be a candidate for
honours in Part II either in the year after obtaining honours either in Part IB Geography or in
another Honours Examination.
Indicators of Quality
The Department of Geography was ranked first jointly with the Departments of Geography
at the Universities of Bristol, Durham and Oxford in the 2008 RAE Assessment Exercise.
The percentages of research assessed were 30% at 4*, 40% at 3*, 25% at 2* and 5% at
1*.The Geographical Tripos at Cambridge has been ranked first for Geography and
Environmental Studies by the Education Guardian for five years in a row.
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