Geography (Hons)

Overview

Are you interested in studying how human activities and behaviours shape physical landscapes and examining why humans create unique spaces and places on the Earth’s surface? Or how natural processes shape the Earth’s surface to create different physical landscapes?  

A Geography (Hons) degree from Vancouver Island University  is for you!

Geographers pursue careers in many different fields, including education, planning, business, government agencies and non-profit organizations.

Geography is the study of earth spaces and places. Geographers are concerned with the distribution and patterning of physical and human phenomena in earth space, including the nature and magnitude of human impact on natural environments. 

Protecting sustainable environments and managing the earth’s valued resources – land, water and air – are of vital interest to geographers. 

The geographic concepts of place and landscape provide a framework for understanding the role of culture in the evolution and development of urban and rural landscapes. 

Political, social and economic processes, when examined from a spatial (geographic) and temporal (historical) perspective, enable students to appreciate and understand the dynamic processes associated with the development of local and regional landscapes.

Career Opportunities

Labour market demand for graduates with strong academic and applied backgrounds in geographic studies remains high – regionally, nationally, and internationally. This is particularly true of graduates with skills in geographic communication, spatial analysis, and GIS. Recent Canadian-based human resource studies report that GIS activity will soon surpass $1-billion annually. Remuneration for entry-level jobs in the field of GIS is well above the norm for undergraduates seeking full-time employment opportunities upon graduation.

Some graduates may wish to pursue post-graduate studies in Geography, or in such diverse fields as education, urban planning, natural resource management, law, or public administration.