Geography (B.A.) (2 subjects/teacher training)

Graduates of the 2-subject Bachelor's programme Geography have acquired extensive knowledge about the current state of human-geographical and physical-geographical research, and the respective specialist literature and methodology. They also know the basic approaches of the didactics of geography and the related research, and are able to grasp them. The graduates have gone beyond the frame of the subject as they have set priorities with respect to their future professions by using the different choices within the programme on their own authority.

Since the founding of the University (1734/37), geography has been taught in Göttingen, initially by teachers belonging to different subject areas. In a narrower sense, Johann M. Franz was appointed as the Professor for Geography as early as 1755, and in 1855, Johann E. Wappäus became the first Professor for Scientific Geography and Ethnography, or for Regional Studies and Regional Statistics respectively. In 1880, Hermann Wagner founded the Geographical Apparatus, thus laying the foundation for today's Institute of Geography. The institute consists of the following departments, which correspond to the main sub-areas of the subject Geography: Physical Geography, Countryside Ecology, Human Geography, as well as Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing. Furthermore, the working group Geography/Alpine Geomorphology and the junior professorship Soil Geography and Ecology are part of the institute. The Institute for Geography belongs to the Faculty for Geosciences, but it is also represented at the Faculty of Humanities by the Department of Cultural and Social Geography.

Due to the institutional structure, we are able to take into account the problem of recording the manifold factors influencing spatial development: The geographical research in Göttingen deals with the components of the human environment, their different factors, their spatial arrangement and their interconnections, especially the interactions between humans and the environment. Thus, the main focus of teaching and research is the analysis and the development of strategies to solve urgent problems of the present and the future, such as climate change, urbanisation, scarcity of water, ethnic conflicts, deforestation, desertification etc. To take into consideration the system "Man/Environment" in its entirety, we take a natural-scientific (Physical Geography) and a cultural-scientific, social-scientific, and economic approach (Anthropogeography) respectively, additionally using the methods and insights of the relevant minor subjects.

Flawless command of the spoken and written German language is a precondition. Sound knowledge of foreign languages, such as English, is strongly recommended.

If you are studying to become a teacher at a Gymnasium and want to apply for the subsequent Master's programme in Education in Lower Saxony, the subject Geography should be combined with one of the following subjects:

German, English, French, Latin, Mathematics, Physics or Spanish.

Other subject combinations (PDF; in German) must be applied for.

Gymnasium/grammar school teacher