The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2026)
6
6th for German
The Complete University Guide (2027)
7
7th for Iberian Languages
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2026)
Given the pace at which our planet is changing, there has never been a more important time to study geography. Learn to make sense of the complex interactions between humanity and our planetary environment and discover how you can make a positive difference. The theme of sustainability is woven throughout the degree and life on campus.
This interdisciplinary programme in German Studies and Geography caters to versatile interests, fosters adaptability and opens doors to a wide range of rewarding careers. You’ll graduate with a deep understanding of the complex interactions between humanity and our planetary environment. You'll also gain expertise in the German language alongside in-depth cultural knowledge. The degree will equip with the knowledge and skills to take your place in an increasingly interconnected world.
What to expect
At the beginning of the degree, you will be introduced to human, physical and environmental geography. You will develop the skills geographers use to analyse major issues and global concerns. You'll also begin to follow a progressional ladder on an internationally recognised language scale, entering either from beginner or intermediate level and progressing to being proficient in German.
In Year 2, you will deepen your knowledge of cultural and political geography, with the opportunity to tailor your interests around a range of human-centric optional modules. As you specialise, you will undertake practical work that aims to enhance your understanding of key topics while developing your analytic and research skills. You'll also develop a range of oral, aural, written and reading skills in an integrated way that embraces techniques of linguistic mediation and the plurilingual contexts of German.
You'll spend Year 3 abroad, engaging with German communities. This can be at a partner university, working in industry, with an NGO or other charitable projects, in an entrepreneurial activity or teaching English as a foreign language. A combination of activities is also possible.
As you progress into Year 4, you will tailor your studies even further with a dissertation. Here, you will be guided by an academic advisor to deliver an independent research topic of your choice. This can be completed in collaboration with a regional organisation such as Lancaster City Council, where you will gain valuable work experience in a real-world environment. Alongside your research project, you will complete further optional modules, including residential field trips. You'll build on the language competencies and expertise you have gained during the Global Engagement Year, to express yourself spontaneously, flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes.
Getting out in the field
With our location near major urban centres, rivers, coasts, and the Lake District World Heritage Site, you will be able to explore beyond the campus and gain hands-on experience through fieldwork. This may include studying the use of salt marshes and sand dunes for coastal flood defence around Morecambe Bay; studying rural communities built around renewable energy projects; exploring inter-connections along Lancaster’s River Lune, from source to sea; and examining glacially carved landscapes and cave systems. Other opportunities include optional overseas trips, such as to Bali.
Personal development
In addition to subject knowledge and field experience, you will gain essential communication and geographic information systems skills. You will become familiar with data generation through qualitative techniques, as well as data handling, environmental sampling, and analysis.
How is German Studies taught at Lancaster?
Your journey to language proficiency and exploring the German-speaking world starts here. You will acquire high-level language skills and gain an internationally recognised qualification modelled on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages.
You’ll enter the course either as a complete beginner in German or with some initial competency. Whatever level you begin with, you will progress to becoming proficient in the language.
Your language learning will be further enriched by cultural studies, covering visual media, literature, art, and history, providing a comprehensive understanding of the societal contexts of the German-speaking world.
Spending your third year abroad in a German-speaking country makes a major contribution to your command of the language, while deepening your intercultural sensitivity. You can study at a partner university or conduct a work placement.
3 things our Geography students want you to know:
Lancaster Environment Centre’s large atrium offers a refreshing place to work, where you will be surrounded by active researchers shaping current thinking. We have an open-door policy and assign you an academic tutor at the beginning of your degree, meaning there’s plenty of ways to receive support. Plus, you will have access to outstanding practical facilities, including our own weather monitoring station
The theme of sustainability is woven throughout the degree and life on campus. Many students are part of LUSU Green, a group run by the Students’ Union that is driving change across the campus and beyond to create a thriving natural environment, reduce carbon emissions, and train the sustainability leaders of the future
Our degree programme focuses on helping you prepare for your future career, with modules that prioritise the development of essential skills and opportunities to undertake enriching hands-on experience in real-world environments. You will graduate ready to enter a number of thriving industries in an increasingly environmentally conscious market
Interested in study at 久久精品? Fill in our form to hear more about course information, events and open days.
Tell me more about undergraduate study at Lancaster accordion
Expand your horizons with a year abroad
Your Global Engagement Year
Spending up to a year abroad is an integral and assessed part of our language degrees.
Through studying, teaching or working overseas, engaging globally gives you the opportunity to improve your language proficiency, broaden your cultural knowledge and gain transferable skills that are much valued by employers.
The Global Engagement Year is compulsory for students taking Chinese, French, German or Spanish as a core language. Please note that we have a flexible approach to supporting students with specific educational needs with this year.
We offer flexibility to split your time abroad between different activities.
You can choose to study courses taught in your target language at one of our partner universities.
If you are studying Chinese, you will be able to study or undertake a work placement in a Chinese language environment.
Work placements
We offer flexibility to split your time abroad between different activities.
You may wish to spend your Global Engagement Year on a work placement for a company or as a Language Assistant for the British Council. This adds invaluable work experience to your academic skills.
We provide plenty of support to identify opportunities and secure an internship.
Work with the British Council
You may apply to spend your Global Engagement Year working as a Language Assistant with the British Council.
This role involves supporting the teaching of English in a school or university, planning activities and producing resources to help students improve their English as well as introducing UK contemporary culture through classroom and extra-curricular activities.
You may also support the running of international projects and activities.
The student experience
Our students share their experiences of spending a year abroad, the skills they gained and learning how to become more independent.
Support
We aim to offer a range of support including:
Regular preparation meetings and a dedicated preparation course
All aspects covered: organisational, social and cultural, health and safety
We take your health and safety seriously and make sure that you feel fully prepared for any issues that may arise during your placement.
Why Geography at Lancaster?
Discover what studying Geography at Lancaster is like from our students and academics.
QS World University Rankings: Top 100
We've been ranked 51-100 for Geography in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026.
Careers
As a graduate of German Studies and Geography, you will have acquired wide-ranging skills and experiences that will enable you to advance professionally in a range of sectors.
A degree in geography will help you get to grips with the many challenges we face with a growing population and an increasingly precarious climate situation by providing you with the opportunity to tackle a wide variety of complex issues. Graduates from our courses are also well-paid, with the median salary of graduates from Lancaster Environment Centre being £28,500, 15 months after graduation (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2025).
Language graduates are in high demand in roles which require collaboration, communication, leadership skills, and critical thinking, as well as intercultural competencies and creativity.
Graduates of this programme might choose to pursue careers in roles such as:
Intelligence Analyst Linguist
Global Supply Chain Manager
Translator or Interpreter
Language Teacher
Civil Servant or Diplomatic Service Officer
Graduate Planner
Education, Communication, and Outreach Officer
Planning Officer
Sustainability Executive
Landscape Architect
久久精品 is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, you also graduate with the relevant life and work based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development. Visit our for full details.
Skills for your future
A degree in geography will provide you with both a specialist and transferable skill set sought after by employers across a wide range of sectors.
Placement year
Choosing a Placement pathway degree involves spending the third year of your four-year degree working full-time in a business. Many students find that a placement year helps them to decide which career path they would like to take. The experience will give you a strong advantage when looking for employment after your degree.
Learning on Location
From upland fells of Cumbria, and the remote corners of the Scottish Hebrides, to tropical trails in Bali, there are opportunities to get hands-on experience working in the field, to bring teaching to life, and allow you to gain practical skills and experiences necessary to excel beyond your degree in many sectors.
Teaching Career Success
In your second year, as part of our teaching we invite alumni and partners from different employers to meet LEC students, providing you with insight into the graduate labour market, as well as providing you with the tools to successfully transition into the world of work.
A future for Ben
During my undergraduate degree at Lancaster, I developed an interest in how we create and shape urban environments and how issues such as the climate crisis and inequality can be solved through these processes. This inspired me to pursue a career within the field of urban planning!
After I graduated, I secured a job at a planning consultancy in North Wales. During my time there, I was able to develop an in-depth understanding of the Welsh planning system and worked on a variety of projects ranging from household developments to major schemes for the commercial industry. What I found particularly interesting about this job was how politics and planning interact at a local level and how different stakeholders interact intending to achieve sustainable development.
I left private consultancy in December 2021 and I’ve been working in the public sector as a Planning Officer for Cheshire West and Chester Council ever since.
During my time with the Council, I’ve had the opportunity to take part in outreach events at local primary schools, running activities on town planning as part of their geography syllabus. This has allowed me to put into practice some of the teaching skills I acquired through modules within my degree, as well as convey my interest in the urban environment to others! Looking back on my time in LEC, I was able to grow as a person in a welcoming and supportive environment and gained the confidence to be able to realise my potential.
Ben Teague, BA Geography - Planning Officer, Cheshire West and Chester Council
Considering a placement year in LEC?
I completed a placement year as part of my degree at Lancaster. This means that in my third year I spent 10 months gaining experience, before returning to Lancaster to complete my degree. I did my placement with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s WildGenes genetics laboratory. This entailed working on-site in a lab at Edinburgh Zoo as well as learning to use genetics and DNA extractions to help support conservation efforts worldwide.
As someone who came straight to university from high school, my placement was the first time in my life I hadn’t been in education. It was a real shock to not have classes to attend or assignments to do, but more importantly, it helped to show me what life might look like beyond academics. The biggest learning curve I had to face wasn’t any of the lab techniques or new concepts, but seeing myself as an employee rather than a student. As I adjusted to my new role and developed skills in and out of the lab, my confidence grew, and I became more comfortable in putting forward my ideas and trusting my intuition. Now I feel self-assured applying for postgraduate study knowing that I have a broad skill set of both academic and practical skills that I can expand on in applications and interviews. If you have the opportunity to do a placement year, take it. You will learn more about yourself and your career aspirations that you could possibly imagine!
“Out of all the universities I considered, Lancaster offered the largest variety of modules over all years, which is exactly what I was looking for. Having the opportunity to take both human and physical geography modules together is something no other university I looked at offered and was exactly what I wanted to do.
My favourite field trip was to the Arolla glacier in Switzerland. It was only a small group of about 12 and took place in Summer. It’s one of my favourite memories. it was so fun being able to see a glacier and actually study glacial hydrology.
Having real in-field experience is invaluable for a geography career – and being able to experience genuine experiments gives a real insight into the industry. We were left to do the work independently, so having experience in doing experiments by myself boosted my confidence in my skills immensely.
I’m staying at Lancaster for another year, doing an MSc in Environmental Management, and then hopefully going into a Geographic Information System-based job. I think the GIS modules here have helped more than anything else – it’s such a huge part of the industry now, and having even basic skills makes you stand out to an employer. With the range of assessments here, I’ve learnt how to write consultancy reports, lab reports and technical reports. Having that head start is so useful for future employment.”
Issy Trigg – BSc Geography
Our Facilities
Teaching Labs
Our new ?4.4 million teaching laboratories feature cutting-edge laboratory and teaching equipment, giving you the best environment to begin your degree.
Research Glasshouses
Our 15 purpose-built glasshouse modules provide flexible growth facilities dedicated to our full range of plant science and ecological research.
Hazelrigg Weather Station
Our Hazelrigg Weather Station has been making daily weather observations at 久久精品 since 1966, allowing you to explore a continuous and high-quality record of weather patterns as a part of your degree!
Environmental Chemistry Laboratories
Our chemistry laboratories have among the best analytical facilities in the world for environmental organic chemistry research.
International Field Sites
We work across the tropical forests of South America and Malaysia where researchers and students have been operating since 2003.
Entry requirements
These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. This section will tell you whether you need qualifications in specific subjects, what our English language requirements are, and if there are any extra requirements such as attending an interview or submitting a portfolio.
Qualifications and typical requirements accordion
ABB. This should include grade B in German, or if this is to be studied from beginners' level, you should have AS grade B or A level grade B in another foreign language, or GCSE grade 7/A in a foreign language. We also recommend that this includes Geography, or alternatively you should have one of the following subjects: Classics, Economics, English Literature, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies, and Sociology.
Considered on a case-by-case basis. Our typical entry requirement would be 30 Level 3 credits at Distinction plus 15 Level 3 credits at Merit, but you would need to have covered appropriate subject content, and to have appropriate evidence of language ability.
We accept the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales in place of one A level, or equivalent qualification, as long as any subject requirements are met.
DDM in a related subject but we may additionally require a supporting A level in Geography or alternative cognate subject at grade B. You will also need to have appropriate evidence of language ability.
Our typical entry requirement would be A level grade B plus BTEC(s) at DD, or A levels at grade BB plus BTEC at D, but you would also need to meet the subject requirements, and have appropriate evidence of language ability.
32 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 HL subjects. This should include Geography or alternative cognate subject at HL grade 6, and should also include 6 in HL German or other appropriate evidence of language learning ability.
We are happy to admit applicants on the basis of five Highers, but where we require a specific subject at A level, we will typically require an Advanced Higher in that subject. If you do not meet the grade requirement through Highers alone, we will consider a combination of Highers and Advanced Highers in separate subjects. Please contact the Admissions team for more information.
T level in Health is accepted at Distinction, alongside appropriate evidence of language ability.
Important information
You will not be able to study a language if you are an L1 speaker of that language, or if you are fluent above CEFR B2. You will typically not be able to study a language from beginners' level if you have studied it to A level or equivalent. If you have studied a language to A level, we would expect you to have achieved at least grade B. If you have not studied a language to A level or equivalent, we would typically accept a GCSE 7/A in any foreign language as meeting the language requirement.
Help from our Admissions team
If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, complete our enquiry form and one of the team will get back to you.
Delivered in partnership with 久久精品 International Study Centre, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of 久久精品 degrees. Visit the for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.
Contextual admissions
Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.
Course structure
We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future. The University will make every reasonable effort to offer programmes and modules as advertised. In some cases, changes may be necessary and may result in new modules or some modules and combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
Whether studying climate change, habitat loss, or sustainable development, these fields require the ability to identify relevant information, organise data, draw meaningful inferences and communicate findings effectively. This module introduces you to some of the essential skills that you will need to support your studies, including how to access and critique existing information, present findings to a variety of audiences and consider ethical issues related to research design. We introduce you to key software programs that can be used to store and process information, produce figures and summaries from datasets and map spatial data. Mastering these skills will help you to maximise your learning potential during your degree and provide a foundation for your future career.
This module provides you with the foundations in development geography, environmental geography and economic geography. You will be taught through a combination of lectures and practical workshops ensuring that alongside geographical knowledge, you are developing core qualitative field skills such as interviews and critical academic skills such as literature review and essay writing.
Roll up your sleeves and carry out your own geographical research with a residential trip to Cumbria! Together, we’ll look at how to design good research and explore different methods used in human and physical geography. You’ll investigate the controversial project of rewilding, thinking about the benefits and challenges of returning land to nature. You’ll use research methods from both human and physical geography to deepen your understanding. Back in Lancaster, you’ll learn different ways to analyse, visualise and communicate geographical data.
This module provides you with the foundations in social geography, cultural geography and political geography. You will be taught through a combination of lectures and practical workshops ensuring that alongside geographical knowledge, you are developing core qualitative research skills such as working with documents and visual data and developing critical academic skills such as presentations and exam skills.
Take your chosen language from beginners' level and, over the academic year, reach a high A2 level on the CEFR scale for the European Languages, and HSK 2/3 for Chinese.
By the end of the year, you’ll be able to engage with everyday life situations such as describing your environment, express preferences and discuss past events or future plans in simple terms.
In seminars you will cover a range of oral, aural, written, and reading skills in an integrated way that embraces techniques of linguistic mediation and the plurilingual contexts of each language. The study of the cultural, social and historical context is embedded in the language learning, under the umbrella themes: Discovering Languages and Cultures and Locating the Global.
You will begin by focusing on linguistic discovery, invention and growth and move on to locating language-specific places, landscapes, and communities. You will also be introduced to key translation techniques.
Please note: Italian is not available for students taking a joint degree with a language and a non-language subject.
Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish
In this year-long module you will progress to B1/B2 on the CEFR scale and HSK 4/5 for Chinese.
By the end of the year, you’ll be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in fields of specialisation. You will be able to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity with native speakers, including facilitating intercultural encounters.
You will be exposed to a wide range of authentic materials in the target language, varying in terms of content, format and register aimed at broadening and deepening your understanding of different aspects of modern society, politics and culture, global issues and institutions.
The study of the cultural, social and historical context is embedded in the language learning within overarching themes. You will begin by focusing on issues relating to people, power and places and move on to exploring centres, peripheries and mobilities.
Please note: Italian is not available for students taking a joint degree with a language and a non-language subject.
Core
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You will study culture from a geographical perspective and explore space and the spatial from a cultural point of view. With social geography you will explore social inequalities, identities and relations in specific places and in their spatial dimensions. The module focuses on the key geographical concepts of landscape, place, space and mobilities, together with ideas of representation, belonging, aesthetics, the arts, (collective) memory, creativity, embodiment and justice. You will also develop an understanding of theories about culture, space, identity and power and their value in both conceptual and practical terms, developing your capacity to bring issues and perspectives of cultural and social geography to bear in insightful responses to key issues of the present and future.
The contemporary world is full of fascinating political and economic changes. Both past and present crises in capitalism - from uneven wealth distribution to the challenges of the climate emergency - show that economy and politics cannot be understood separately. This module introduces key themes in both economic and political geography. For political geography, we’ll dive into themes like geopolitics, the nation state, borders, conflict and resistance. For economic geography, we’ll look at how the economy shapes and interacts with political issues. We’ll also explore the challenges and opportunities of bringing economic and political geographies together. By the end of the module, you’ll have the skills to make sense of the political and economic world around you and understand key global issues from a geographical perspective.
Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish
In this year-long module you will progress to B1/B2 on the CEFR scale and HSK 4/5 for Chinese.
By the end of the year, you’ll be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in fields of specialisation. You will be able to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity with native speakers, including facilitating intercultural encounters.
You will be exposed to a wide range of authentic materials in the target language, varying in terms of content, format and register aimed at broadening and deepening your understanding of different aspects of modern society, politics and culture, global issues and institutions.
The study of the cultural, social and historical context is embedded in the language learning within overarching themes. You will begin with a focus on issues relating to people, power and places, and move on to exploring centres, peripheries and mobilities.
Please note: Italian is not available for students taking a joint degree with a language and a non-language subject.
French, German, Italian and Spanish
Progress to B2 level on the CEFR scale by the end of the year. You will develop a range of oral, aural, written and reading skills in an integrated way that embraces techniques of linguistic mediation and the plurilingual contexts of each language. By the end of the year, you’ll be able to understand the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics and interact with native speakers in a range of situations. You will be able to produce clear, detailed texts on a wide range of subjects including explaining viewpoints on topical issues.
The study of cultural, social, and historical context is embedded in the language learning within overarching themes. You will begin by exploring social justice and move on to studying cultural translation.
Please note: Italian is not available for students taking a joint degree with a language and a non-language subject.
Optional
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Explore international development through critical geographical perspectives. We start by understanding development both conceptually and historically, linking it to colonial histories and their ongoing impact today. We’ll also look at how development maps onto global inequalities. We explore the evolution of mainstream development discourses, including the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as alternative approaches like postdevelopment and decolonial theories. You’ll dive into specific issues like climate change adaptation in the global South, gender equality, rural development, food sovereignty, urban transformations and politics in the Majority World. We’ll examine how development ideas have evolved, from state-led initiatives to civil society actions and market-driven solutions. The module also looks at how development fits within global political and economic changes, focusing on inequalities and the different impacts development has across the Majority World. You will develop critical thinking and research skills through interactive workshop activities.
The world can appear infinitely complex, but when details are represented digitally it becomes easier to draw back, take new perspectives, simplify patterns and learn more about their underlying causes. Organisations of all kinds are interested in how spatial information can drive decisions, operations and policy; and the volume and variety of information captured about people, their surroundings and the planet is increasing rapidly. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide us with the environment and tools to explore and interact with socioeconomic, environmental, topographic and remotely sensed data in order to generate understanding. At the end of this module, you will be able to query and interpret spatial data from multiple sources, create and critically interpret new outputs and appreciate how to visualise data for different audiences.
Explores environmental geographies through empirical examples of our evolving relationship with the Earth and the sea. We build upon previously studied key concepts such as The Anthropocene and the role of non-western and indigenous knowledges, encouraging a more critical approach to the governance structures and justice frameworks that shape how human societies interact with the natural world. You’ll engage with global and local examples of environmental governance, the ethical dimensions of environmental justice and the socio-political dynamics that influence issues of equity, access and environmental rights. You will also explore the connections between human and physical geography, considering how themes and concepts from Earth and marine sciences can offer new perspectives on our social worlds.
By now, you’ll have an idea of what research in geography involves, and why and how geographers undertake it. This module will help you develop the key skills needed to become an independent researcher. You’ll explore ethics, risk assessment and learn how to effectively search for and critically summarise existing literature. We’ll then cover a broad range of research methods in human geography, including surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, documentary research and creative methods. You’ll also learn how to analyse and present both quantitative and qualitative research. Looking ahead to your dissertation, we’ll teach you how to write up a research project and explore the potential for developing outputs with real-world impact.
Travel to the Scottish Hebrides to broaden your understanding of sustainability as a social, economic and environmental concern. We will challenge you to think about sustainability as an interdisciplinary issue and consider the future of the planet. You will deepen your understanding of what sustainability means in an island context, learning about the culture, landscape and economy of the Scottish Hebrides. There is the opportunity to travel by ferry between Hebridean islands, considering the ways in which islanders, alongside the local authority and Scottish Government, have sought to promote sustainable practice. You will see examples of progressive and alternative approaches to issues such as energy production, manufacturing, education, healthcare and social support.
Encounter changes in society, culture, and politics in multilingual contexts, across time and across the planet, as well as relevant ideas and analytical terminology, such as ‘world’, ‘global’, and ‘planetary’.
You will approach planetary histories of societies and cultures by exploring the relationship between:
Culture, language, and power
Language histories
Histories of translation and multilingualism
Cultural encounters
The global histories of the study of languages
You will draw on a variety of cultural texts, including films, novels, plays, poetry, songs or graphic novels.
You will develop your skills and use of terminology in whole cohort workshops and plenaries. In smaller groups, seminars you will study specific geographical areas, regions, and languages. You will develop the skills you need to study literatures, cultures, and societies and to research and write your final year dissertation or project.
Core
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Spend an academic year abroad engaging with the communities of the relevant language (s) studied. This can be at a partner university, working in industry, with an NGO or other charitable projects, in an entrepreneurial activity or teaching English as a foreign language. A combination of activities is also possible.
If you have educational needs, you may complete the year with online work or placement based in the UK if the work utilises the language you are studying.
You design your Global Engagement Year during your second year, supported by a series of workshops and one-to-one sessions with a pre-departure supervisor. Once abroad, you will remain in contact with the supervisor and produce a reflective portfolio in the language(s) studied as you progress.
Core
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Chinese, French, German and Spanish
Build on the language competencies and expertise you have gained during the Global Engagement Year and progress to C1/C2 on the CEFR level for the European languages or HSK 6/7 for Chinese.
By the end of the year, you will be able to understand and produce a wide range of complex, longer texts, recognise implicit meaning and show controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
You will be able to express yourself spontaneously, flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. You will cover areas such as future threats to specified language communities, opportunities to advocate and promote languages, and adaptation to changes to living languages, such as shifts in formal and informal communication and preservation or borrowing from other languages.
The study of the cultural, social and historical context is embedded in the study of the language under umbrella themes. You will begin by exploring routes, origins and tongues and then move on to studying bodies.
Optional
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Humanity now lives predominantly in urban areas, with an incredible diversity of cities shaping daily life across the globe. In the 21st century, these cities are rapidly evolving and facing a host of complex challenges, from technological change and digital infrastructures to pressing issues of social justice, sustainability and resilience. This module introduces you to cutting-edge thinking about cities and urban life, questioning long-held assumptions and encouraging you to critically explore what cities are, how they function and who shapes them. You’ll engage with big questions such as: What is a city today? What forces are shaping urban transformation? And how can we address the challenges cities face in more equitable and sustainable ways?
This module gives you an advanced introduction to the geographies of creative practice, an exciting and emerging area within contemporary geographic scholarship. Building on key ideas from earlier modules, you’ll expand your critical thinking and explore new methodological approaches. You’ll examine how place and space are connected to art, politics and creative expression, and develop a deeper understanding of how particular places become hubs of intellectual and artistic activity. You will develop a critical appreciation of how specific types of places (historical and contemporary) become sites of intellectual thought and creative expression. Engage with a range of cultural, social, political and philosophical ideas and interpret these across a range of media, including the visual arts, film, music, narrative/graphic fiction and creative writing. The module will develop your appreciation of the spatial dimensions of critical thought and creative practice and thus deepen your understanding of the geographical imagination.
Conduct an independent research project on a specific topic within your field of study and present your findings in an extensive report. Throughout your project, you will receive one-to-one support from a member of academic staff. This is the largest piece of work that you will complete during your degree and, depending on your subject area, it will enable you to develop skills including formulating a research question; contextualising it within research literature; identifying and using appropriate research methods and techniques with which to address your question; collecting and analysing data; and interpreting your findings. Overall, the aim is to demonstrate your ability to conduct rigorous, independent academic work and communicate its outcomes clearly and effectively.
This module takes a critical and yet hands-on approach to exploring the role of eco-innovation as a pathway towards sustainable development. Through action-learning, you will identify and address real-world sustainability challenges by developing your own eco-innovation proposals – viable ideas with the potential to reduce human impact on the environment whilst simultaneously delivering to the economic and social ambitions of global sustainable development. You will work in small teams, while being introduced to key sustainability concepts and business planning approaches that can be combined to develop effective eco-innovations. Gain valuable transferable skills including team working, problem analysis and framing, and effective oral and written communication to professional and non-academic audiences. By the end of the module, you will have developed a deep understanding of the intersection between sustainability and innovation, along with practical skills and increased confidence to help them drive change in the real world.
Explore the social, political and environmental challenges facing food systems in the world today. You’ll examine the history, culture and development of contemporary food production, focusing on how we interact with plants, animals and the land. Key debates will centre around food security and food sovereignty, using global case studies to reveal the connections between changing diets, landscapes and agrarian reform. You’ll be challenged to think critically and creatively about the future of food, developing innovative alternatives. Practical sessions will give you the chance to explore different ways of thinking about food and agriculture, and how these perspectives are rooted in broader political, environmental and social philosophies.
This module invites you to explore the economic, historical and political geography of the Global South in all its diversity. You’ll examine the region’s rich socio-economic and cultural assets, while also unpacking the complex opportunities and challenges its people face in the 21st century. Using examples from places such as Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, you’ll track the transformations from colonial histories to contemporary realities. You’ll learn about the different development strategies adopted by postcolonial states and investigate current issues around governance, climate change adaptation, natural resources and rural-urban connections. By considering these topics in their wider spatial, economic and historical contexts, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how globalisation is shaping everyday life in specific localities across the Global South.
Gain an in-depth understanding of the concepts, methods and applications of health geography. Health is central to living a good life, yet huge inequalities can be seen whether in the North West of England or in the Global South. Geography and related disciplines make vital contributions in defining these inequalities as ethically unacceptable (i.e. inequitable) and examining their causes (political, social, economic and environmental). Discover useful theoretical and empirical tools for developing appropriate policy responses to tackling these inequities. Learn about the merits and weaknesses of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods approaches to health research, applied to well-known, emerging and neglected diseases. Develop a critical, reflective understanding of health geography as a fast-moving, plural and contested sub-field. This module opens the door for you to further training and careers in public health, including in local government, national health institutions and the charitable sector.
How are we transforming the way we supply and use energy to achieve our climate targets? In this cross-disciplinary module you will look at the major changes underway within our energy system. You will examine decarbonisation pathways in electricity, transport and heat, whilst considering supply and demand dynamics and carbon removal. Investigate real-world challenges including how to govern the energy system, economics, societal engagement and energy security. Through a combination of lecture, workshop and field-based activities, you will gain a ‘whole system view’ cutting across disciplines, enabling you to refine your critical thinking skills and ability to weigh up the opportunities and challenges associated with energy decarbonisation. You will benefit from real-world insight through understanding the university energy system and contributions to the course from energy professionals. The knowledge and skills develop will position you for further study or employment focused on a major societal challenge.
The modern world is defined by unprecedented social and ecological crises: global heating, biodiversity decline, mounting economic inequality and the wicked problem of decarbonising society justly and equitably. You will approach these challenges head-on, asking how they were produced, by who, why and with what effects. You will be introduced to the field of political ecology and to some of its most influential conceptual approaches (degrowth, feminism, anti-colonialism and more). Together, we will ask and answer questions such as: What is climate justice? Why is it so difficult to decarbonise the global economy? How do items we use every day — from mobile phones, to clothing, coffee and water — impact peoples, animals and environments near and far? You will learn to think critically about the world they live in, to reflect on the implications of social and economic policy and consider how climate justice might be attained.
Our planet is shaped by ongoing geological, climatic and ecological processes that are increasingly dominated by mankind. Everywhere you look you will find change, but not all changes are important. To make informed decisions, we need to know how to test ideas and identify reliable trends. This module will teach you how to overlay spatial layers to answer increasingly complex questions about when and where changes are happening, whether they are connected, what is occurring in locations with incomplete data and to predict the magnitude and distribution of impacts? As more and more data is collected and shared by networked devices, corporations and remote sensing technologies, understanding spatial relationships is crucial. The operations of most industries already depend on geospatial analysts and this module will teach you skills needed to take advantage of the digital age.
During this field trip you will actively engage with the Geography of the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. You will explore the contested futures of these places and how this contestation plays out in relation to topics like activism, national identity, ethnic diversity, housing and tourism. You will then be in a position to use your experience and insight to inform your reading and understanding of the extensive existing academic literature on these unique cities. You will develop an understanding of the cultural, economic, political and social processes that contribute to the formation and differentiation of places, through both conceptual analysis and experiential and empirical fieldwork.
Undertake an extended, in-depth individual project that will typically taking one of the following formats: a discursive dissertation; a translation dissertation; or dissertation by practice.
Indicative topics for discursive dissertations:
The role of languages and cultures in tackling global challenges
Language and technology, or future language pedagogies
Futures of translation and interpreting
Indicative topics for translation dissertations:
Conventional or creative translation project with critical translator’s commentary. Theories and practices may include eco-translation, AI and machine translation, or creative-critical translation
Examples for the “by practice” route:
A policy report based on working with minority language communities in the local area
Creative work: creative writing in the target language or multilingually; a short film; an installation, etc.
A portfolio of teaching materials
You will be given feedback and supported through work-in-progress workshops.
This field module focuses on the governance of dynamic and rapidly changing socio-ecological systems in tropical South East Asia – places often conceived as utopias. You will explore the concept of ‘utopia’ and how it relates to environment and development challenges, considering why they succeed or fail. Visit a range of sites that reflect a continuum of different management trajectories. Through these cases, you will explore related trade-offs and approaches to natural resource management. Engage with different stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, tourists, local farmers) to explore their differing views of utopia and preferred development and conservation trajectories and their implications for society and the biophysical landscape. This multidisciplinary trip is designed for you, whether you're a natural or social science student, and will challenge you to engage with literature, concepts, methods, and assignments from areas outside your immediate degree focus.
Do you want to entertain and inspire children and the public in STEM? With an introduction to teaching as well as wider engagement opportunities, learn how to understand your audience and how to engage and enliven them. You will also learn how to balance this with educating them and presenting science in a way that’s appropriate to your audience. We include an introduction to pedagogy, how to inspire school pupils and how to use traditional and new media for science communication.
You will deliver an activity of your choosing to an audience. This could be a lesson at school, engaging with children at a large outreach event or delivering a public lecture. In addition, you will also reflect on your activity to discuss what you’ve learnt and what changes you would make. You can deliver this by either video, podcast or article.
Fees and funding
Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting at the beginning of each academic year.
The course offers optional residential field trip modules and students choosing to take these will have to pay towards their travel and accommodation costs.
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
College fees
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small college membership fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2026, the one-time fee for undergraduates and postgraduate research students is £40. For postgraduate taught students, the one-time fee is £15.
Computer equipment and internet access
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
Study abroad courses
In addition to travel and accommodation costs, while you are studying abroad, you will need to have a passport and, depending on the country, there may be other costs such as travel documents (e.g. visa or work permit) and any tests and vaccines that are required at the time of travel. Some countries may require proof of funds.
Placement and industry year courses
In addition to possible commuting costs during your placement, you may need to buy clothing that is suitable for your workplace and you may have accommodation costs. Depending on the employer and your job, you may have other costs such as copies of personal documents required by your employer for example.
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
Home fees are subject to annual review, and are liable to rise each year in line with UK government policy. International fees (including EU) are reviewed annually and are not fixed for the duration of your studies. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
We will charge tuition fees to Home undergraduate students on full-year study abroad/work placements in line with the maximum amounts permitted by the Department for Education. The current maximum levels are:
Students studying abroad for a year: 15% of the standard tuition fee
Students taking a work placement for a year: 20% of the standard tuition fee
International students on full-year study abroad/work placements will also be charged in line with the maximum amounts permitted by the Department for Education. The current maximum levels are:
Students studying abroad for a year: 15% of the standard international tuition fee during the Study Abroad year
Students taking a work placement for a year: 20% of the standard international tuition fee during the Placement year
Please note that the maximum levels chargeable in future years may be subject to changes in Government policy.
Scholarships and bursaries
Details of our scholarships and bursaries for students starting in 2027 are not yet available.
The information on this site relates primarily to the stated entry year and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our?legal information.
Our Students’ Charter
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. Find out more about our? Charter and student policies.
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