Faculty of Social Sciences

Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Geography (3-year)

The BSocSc (Hons) in Geography programme enables students to obtain a firm foundation in geographical methodology while at the same time acquiring an understanding of the spatial order and the interdependence of the world's peoples and regions. Emphasis is placed on the ways in which geographers may assist in finding solutions to real world problems. Students are offered considerable freedom to take a broad spectrum of courses, particularly in their second and final years, when they may choose to concentrate on aspects of either physical or human geography.

Specifically, the programme aims to provide students with:

1.	Knowledge of the spatial order and the interdependence of different regions of the world;
2.	A critical understanding of environmental and socio-economic development problems with a focus on global-local connections;
3.	The ability to apply geographical techniques and methods in the analysis and interpretation of diverse people-environmental interactions;
4.	The preparation that allows students to pursue postgraduate studies in geography and related fields, and to take up a variety of jobs in business, civil service, education and other professional endeavours.

The structure of the curriculum is as follows:

	Major Courses	60 units
	Complementary Studies Courses	36 units
		──────
		96 units

1. Major Courses (60 units)
The major component provides a curriculum of 60 units of courses offered by the Department of Geography that provide students with a comprehensive training in the discipline. The Honours Project enables students to complete a piece of significant, independent study on a geographical topic of their choice under supervision of a faculty member. Moreover, all geography students must participate in the mandatory Field Camp of the Department, which is conducted during the second semester of Year II.

2. Complementary Studies Courses (36 units)
Complementary Studies courses enable students to acquire an understanding of the broader world, and a variety of issues and values, so that they are better able to cope with the challenges of the complex socio-economic, cultural, religious and political aspects of modern life.

Requirements

Major Required Courses				30 units
a)	Philosophical and Methodological Foundations (9 units)
	GEOG	1130	Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Geography	3 units
	GEOG	1150	Cartography	3 units
	GEOG	3130	Geographical Thought	3 units
	GEOG	3590	Field Camp	0 unit
b)	Physical and Environmental Geography (6 units)
	GEOG	1190	Earth Systems: Shaping Landscapes	3 units
	GEOG	1200	Earth Systems: Atmosphere & Biosphere	3 units
c)	Human Geography (6 units)
	GEOG	1160	Cultures, Peoples & Landscapes	3 units
	GEOG	1210	Globalization of Economic Activities	3 units
d)	Regional Geography (3 units)
	GEOG	2110	Regional Geography of China	3 units
e)	Honours Project (6 units)
	GEOG	3591-2	Honours Project	6 units

	Major Elective Courses			30 units
	At least one course from each of the following four areas:
a)	Geographical Methodology
	GEOG	3600	Geographical Information Systems	3 units
	GEOG	3610	Remote Sensing & Image Interpretation	3 units
	GEOG	3630	Advanced Quantitative Methods in Geography	3 units
b)	Physical and Environmental Geography
	GEOG	2140	Global Environmental Issues & Sustainability	3 units
	GEOG	2160	Energy Problems & the Environment	3 units
	GEOG	2600	Techniques in Physical Geography	3 units
	GEOG	2800	Geography of Health & the Environment	3 units
	GEOG	3620	Advanced Climatology	3 units
	GEOG	3640	Applied Geomorphology	3 units
	GEOG	3680	Coastal Environments & Processes	3 units
	GEOG	3720	Seminar in Environmental Planning & Management	3 units
	GEOG	3730	Seminar in Energy Problems	3 units
	GEOG	3840*	Energy Development in China	3 units
	GEOG	3850*	Resource Management in China	3 units
	GEOG	3860*	Problems in the Physical Geography of China	3 units
	GEOG	3870	Geography of Environmental Hazards	3 units
	GEOG	3910*	Selected Topics in the Geography of China	3 units
c)	Human Geography
	GEOG	2150	Population Geography	3 units
	GEOG	2180	Urban Geography	3 units
	GEOG	3650	Geography of Economic Development	3 units
	GEOG	3660	Political Geography	3 units
	GEOG	3670	Geography of Transportation	3 units
	GEOG	3710	Urban Planning	3 units
	GEOG	3740	Urban Cultural Landscape	3 units
	GEOG	3750	Seminar in Urban Geography	3 units
	GEOG	3760	Urban Development & Planning in Hong Kong	3 units
	GEOG	3790	Seminar in Social Geography	3 units
	GEOG	3830*	Population Geography of China	3 units
	GEOG	3880*	Rural & Agricultural Development in China	3 units
	GEOG	3890*	Urban Development in China	3 units
	GEOG	3910*	Selected Topics in the Geography of China	3 units
d)	Regional Geography
	GEOG	1620	Hong Kong & the Pearl River Delta: A Survey	3 units
	GEOG	2320	Geography of Pacific Asia	3 units

Complementary Studies Courses				36 units
	Core Requirements
	I.T.	1180	Information Management Technology	3 units
	LANG	1480	University Chinese	3 units
	LANG	1491-2	English I & II	6 units
	U.L.	1121-2	University Life	0 unit
	Physical Education Courses			0 unit
	Values and the Meaning of Life Course			3 units
	Distribution Requirements
	Any two courses outside Social Sciences, of which one must be Science course			6 units
	Any two non-major/option courses			6 units
	Free elective courses			9 units
				──────
				96 units

Geography major students can choose up to two of these China Studies courses. The contents of GEOG 3910 Selected Topics in the Geography of China vary from year to year. Whether GEOG 3910 is considered a "human" or "physical and environmental" geography course depends on the exact contents of the course at the time it is offered.