Course details
Geography is about how people interact with the spaces, places, landscapes and environments in which they live and how those places engage with the larger world.
Our course gives you a broad understanding of the human, environmental and natural issues facing society with a focus upon real-world questions:
- Are the effects of climate change already visible, and what might its consequences be for societies?
- Why are civilisations and religions from different parts of the world clashing with one another?
- How might intercultural understanding and dialogue be promoted?
- Why do natural hazards tend to affect some people (the poor, women, children, ethnic minorities) more than others?
- How do regional economies evolve over time and how can regions successfully interact with an increasingly globalised economy?
- How can societies make better use of renewable energy and material resources?
- How can computer technologies help us understand and manage the world more effectively?
Registration with the Teaching Council
The Higher Diploma in Arts programme consists of modules to the value of 60 credits taken from Levels 2 and 3 of the undergraduate BA degree. The Higher Diploma in Arts is recognised by the Teaching Council for teacher registration provided candidates have completed modules to the value of at least 70 credits in the chosen subject. Students who register for the Higher Diploma in Arts and wish to register the chosen subject with the Teaching Council must also register for an additional 10 credits of first year modules in that subject. There will be no additional fee for students who register for the additional 10 credits with the Higher Diploma in Arts. Students who have already completed 10 credits of first year modules in the subject as part of their primary degree will be exempt from the additional requirement to meet the Teacher Council requirements.
Course Details
The Higher Diploma in Geography consists of modules taken from a range of existing second and final year arts geography modules.
Second year courses are more specialised. You will have an opportunity to delve deeper into problems in specific branches in geography. There will also be a number of lectures and practical courses concerned with issues central to geography.
Third year modules focus upon understanding geography as an academic discipline concerned with the ’togetherness of many things in space’, i.e. with analysis, understanding and explanation of how different kinds of physical materials, peoples, institutions and ideas interact, impinge on and coexist with one another in regional combinations of varying complexity over the earth's surface.
Modules (25 credits):
- GG2038 Geographical Research Methods
- GG2022 Field Work
- GG3001 The Nature of Geography
- GG3006 Research Methods and Dissertation
At least one module from Physical Geography course:
- GG2005 Quaternary Environments and Geomorphology (5 credits)
- GG2016 The Atmospheric Environment (5 credits)
- GG2025 Biogeography (5 credits)
- GG2037 Introduction to Geoinformatics (5 credits)
- GG2042 Marine Environments (5 credits)
- GG3007 Coastal Geomorphology (5 credits)
- GG3009 Geography as Human Ecology (5 credits)
- GG3012 Advanced Geographical Information Systems (5 credits)
- GG3041 Environmental Remote Sensing (5 credits)
- GG3042 Climate Variability and Change
At least one module from Human Geography course:
- GG2010 Cities and People (5 credits)
- GG2014 Geography of Tourism (5 credits)
- GG2023 Economic and Rural Geography (5 credits)
- GG2024 Social Geography (5 credits)
- GG2040 Geographies of Environment and Sustainability (5 credits)
- GG2041 Contemporary Human Migration and European Settlement and Society (5 credits)
- GG3003 Contemporary Studies of the European Union (5 credits)
- GG3007 Coastal Geomorphology (5 credits)
- GG3009 Geography as Human Ecology (5 credits).
- GG3010 Cities and their Planning (5 credits).
- GG3012 Advanced Geographical Information Systems (5 credits)
- GG3027 Regional and Local Planning Issues and Policies (5 credits)
- GG3037 Geography of Heritage (5 credits)
- GG3041 Environmental Remote Sensing (5 credits)
- GG3043 Historical Geographies of the City (5 credits)
- GG3045 Food Geography (5 credits)
- GG3046 Geopolitics and Geostrategies (5 credits)
Plus any five additional 5-credit modules such that the overall composition of the modules taken, including requirements, contains at least 30 credits from the third year course.
Part-time (over 2 years)
Year 1:
- GG2038 Geographical Research Methods
- GG2022 Fieldwork
Year 2:
- GG3006 Research Methods and Dissertation
Plus additional modules as above to make up the 60 credits
For students who will wish to register the subject with the Teaching Council, the 10 credits of first year modules will be in addition to their Higher Diploma in Arts programme registration. There will be no additional fee for students who register for the additional 10 credits with the Higher Diploma in Arts. Students who have already completed 10 credits of first year modules in the subject as part of their primary degree will be exempt from the additional requirement to meet the Teacher Council requirements.
Course Practicalities
The course involves 60 credits of undergraduate geography courses. Thematic modules consist of lectures and some continuous assessment. In particular modules there may be elements of field work (non-residential). The methodological modules (GG2038, GG2022 and GG3006) are assessed based on student assignments, reports, and an 8,000-word dissertation. The fieldwork module consists of a weeklong residential field course.
Assessment
Second and third year lecture modules involve a combination of end-of-year examinations and continuous assessments. GG3006 Research Methods and Dissertation – the dissertation module – is graded on the quality of the research, analysis and written report. Topics are chosen from a range of research themes specified by the Geography Department. You then develop your chosen topic in consultation with your departmental supervisor. Fieldwork (including library and laboratory work as appropriate) is an essential part of the dissertation.
Updated on 08 November, 2015Course Location
About University College Cork
UCC was established in 1845 as one of three Queen’s Colleges - at Cork, Galway and Belfast. These new colleges theyre established in the reign of Queen Victoria, and named after her.
Queen's College, Cork (QCC) was established to provide access to higher education in the Irish province of Munster. Cork was chosen for the new college due to its place at the centre of transatlantic trade at the time and the presence of existing educational initiatives such as the Royal Cork Institution and a number of private medical schools.
The site chosen for the new college was dramatic and picturesque, on the edge of a limestone bluff overlooking the River Lee. It is associated with the educational activities of a local early Christian saint, Finbarr. It is believed that his monastery and school stood nearby, and his legend inspired UCC’s motto: ‘Where Finbarr Taught, let Munster Learn.’
On 7 November 1849, QCC opened its doors to a small group of students (only 115 students in that first session, 1849-1850) after a glittering inaugural ceremony in the Aula Maxima (Great Hall), which is still the symbolic and ceremonial heart of the University.
The limestone buildings of the Main Quadrangle (as it is now known) are built in a style inspired by the great universities of the Middle Ages, and theyre designed by the gifted architectural partnership of Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward. The iconic image of UCC, it is set in landscaped gardens and surrounds the green lawn known to all as the Quad.
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