Bachelor in Geography : General

Do you like travelling and maps? Do you like to understand the world around you? Are you interested in the relationship between human societies and their physical environment? Are you concerned about the major issues of our time, such as climate change, the biodiversity crisis, global development inequalities and social contrasts within cities? Are you looking for an education that can lead you to a wide variety of professions?  
The Bachelor of Geographical Sciences provides a solid multidisciplinary training for the study of both the physical environment and human societies and the interactions between the former and the latter. Territories, whether urban or rural, are analysed with the help of maps and scientific methods to describe and understand their spatial organisation as well as the processes that govern and shape them (economic development, migratory flows, erosion phenomena, etc.).

Reading, analysis and production of maps, practical work, documentary research, excursions, oral presentations, etc., alone or in groups: through a variety of methods, geography training offers a solid education in the exact, natural, and human sciences. It covers the basic tools and knowledge needed to analyse the spatial distribution of various phenomena and the interactions between human beings and their environment. They introduce from the first year several courses in both physical and human geography. In physical geography, the courses deal with the formation of territories and their evolution under the influence of climate. In human geography, the courses offer keys to reading the spatial distribution of people and their activities at different scales (from the city to the continent) and throughout the world.  From the second year onwards, geomatics courses are added, starting with cartography in the second block and geographic information systems in the third.

From the first block onwards, almost half of the training consists of discipline-specific courses; this proportion increases gradually in the second and third blocks.
From the 1st block, the ex-cathedra courses are supported by practical work, but also field trips (including a 4-day excursion in the 2nd and 3rd blocks alternating between Switzerland for physical geography and a tour of Belgium for human geography); the proportion of theoretical courses decreases from the 2nd block onwards to leave an important place to exercises, practical work and excursions. From the 2nd and especially the 3rd block, geography courses include personal research work. As most of the discipline-specific courses are given to small groups, the training includes excursions, fieldwork, group work, but also strong interaction between students, assistants, and professors.
In the course of practical work and personal assignments, students learn to use specialised and free software to process geographic data (geographic information systems) or statistical data, as well as specialised libraries and map and atlas collections (map library).

Learning on a human scale: as most of the specific courses are given to small groups, they leave room for strong interaction between students, assistants and professors, which allows the use of active methods, the development of a critical perspective and leaves room for debate.
Active methods: based on concrete experiences and problem-questions revealing contemporary issues, students are gradually led to appropriate theories, experiment with methods and test models.
Open-source software: the methodological courses use open source software, allowing them to be used well beyond the university framework, in particular through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Two excursions lasting several days, partly prepared by the students: one in Belgium, the other in Switzerland, they offer the opportunity to confront the field with a prior geographical analysis using the knowledge and analysis tools acquired during the training.