Question 1

2. Should I declare geography as my first major or my second major?

Accepted Answer

It depends on which faculty you are from.
For Social Science students, you might choose single major in Geography or double major in Geography/ Urban Governance. You might consider the following options to become a geographer:

For non-Social Science students, you could choose double major in Geography/ Urban Governance. You might declare either Geography (96 credits) or Urban Governance (72 credits) as your second major with another discipline offered by your home Faculty as your first major.

Question 2

3. Are there any requirements for BA/ BSc students to declare geography as the second major?

Accepted Answer

No, but we encourage students to start our major programme in Year 2 to spread your courses around the semesters, so studying will be more productive.

Question 3

4. I am a Nursing student. Can I study geography major/minor programme?

Accepted Answer

MBBS students can select our geography/urban governance minor programme(s), while Nursing, Chinese medicine, Pharmacy and Biomedical science students can take geography courses as free electives. Students might check with your home Faculty for further advice/ approval.

As always, we encourage students to take more geography courses as an important enhancement to the studies in your home Faculty.

Geography plays a key part in the public health and human services too to understand the spatial spread of disease and its relationships with the built environment in cities. This year, we continue to offer GEOG2152 Health and Medical Geography (6 credits) introducing students to the history, theories and methods of the Health and Medical Geography subfield. Also, our department offers GEOG2169 Geography and Global Health (6 credits)

Also, taking the recent COVID-19 pandemic as an example, GIS mapping is commonly used to trace the disease outbreak, to visualize the spatial trend of confirmed cases at district, city, national and cross-national geographical level, and to analyse the spatial relationship in order to generate location-based insights and drive decision making. If you want to make maps with spatial data using cutting-edge technology, our method courses GEOG2090 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (6 credits) and GEOG2157 Open-source GIS (6 credits) would provide students a basic understanding of the concepts and techniques of GIS and their application to solve spatial problems that affect our society. Last but not least, we also offer GEOG3417 Health, Wellbeing, Place and GIS (6 credits) this academic year.

We hope that you would find our geography courses stimulating and cater to your education needs. Students can also tailor their geography course choices to accommodate individual interests.

Question 4

5. I didn’t take any geography courses before, can I pursue a geography minor now?"

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can declare your minor via SIS. Students are advised to create your own study plan based on your interests, strengths, education needs and goals. Including a minor (or minors) as part of your degree provides additional knowledge or skills.
Here are some tips for progress tracking in fulfilling the minimum requirements of our minor programme:
We set a minimum requirement of 36 credits for our minors offered. You should check the program structure of geography minor and that of urban governance minor to understand the study target and the credits requirements.
The outline/syllabus and the timetable of our geography courses are provided, so you might list the courses you wish to study with us and spread your selected courses around the semesters. You might then further adjust your courseload to take account of timetable clashes.
The University offers many tools e.g. Degree Audit Report (HKU Portal > My Page > SIS Menu > Academic Records > My Degree Audit) for you to keep track your academic progress.  If you can stick to your plan, the study will be more productive. You are also free to self-evaluate to see if you are meeting your goals and expectations from time to time, in order to customize your academic plan to reach your goal as a geography minor.

Question 5

6. Is geography related to Business and Financial Services?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we would analyse the spatial uneven distribution of economic activities and the recently emerged field of financial geography e.g. the driving forces behind the spatial agglomeration of financial centers.

Some courses recommended from us, including: 
GEOG1012 Economic and Social Development in an Urbanizing World 
GEOG1022 Global change and sustainable development 
GEOG2030 Global Development 
GEOG2090 Introduction to Geographic Information System 
GEOG2128 Economic Geography 
GEOG2136 Political Geography: International Relations and the World Economy 
GEOG2149 Financial Geography 
GEOG2166 Mapping the FinTech - Landscape Innovation, Space and Challenges 
GEOG3426 Social Networks and Geography 
GEOG3428 Regional Economic Policy

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Undergraduate FAQ

Programme description

1. What is the difference between Geography Major and Urban Governance Major programme?

Eligibility to declare major/minor

2. Should I declare geography as my first major or my second major?

3. Are there any requirements for BA/ BSc students to declare geography as the second major?

4. I am a Nursing student. Can I study geography major/minor programme?

5. I didn’t take any geography courses before, can I pursue a geography minor now?"

6. Is geography related to Business and Financial Services?

Major/Minor combinations

7. What are the pros and cons of double major in Geography and Urban Governance?

Introductory Courses requirements

8. I am a non-Social Science student. Do I need to take the pre-requisite courses?

9. Are final-year students allowed to take Level 100 courses?

Advanced Courses requirements

10. Is it a must to study more than one method courses for the geography major?

11. How many streams/ sub-disciplines are there in the Geography major programme?

12. Can I take all method courses to fulfill the advanced courses requirements?

13. I am a geology/earth sciences student. Should I take GIS courses to enhance my first major and to prepare for future job hunting?

14. Why some method courses e.g. GEOG2137 & GEOG2145 are not offered this year?

15. Are there any geography courses with CI-badge?

Capstone Experience requirements

16. What are the options to fulfil the capstone experience requirements?

18. I am a BEd&BSocSc student with a 5-year programme. When should I take the Capstone Experience course?

17. I want to know more about GEOG4001 Overseas Field Trip.

Social innovation and global citizenship (SI & GC) requirements

19. What are the SI & GC requirements for non-Social Science students?

20. Can GEOG4001 Overseas Field Trip be used to fulfill the SI & GC requirements?

Postgraduate options

22. Do I need a single major or double major in geography to be qualified for the application of Taught postgraduate programme(s) / Research postgraduate programme(s) in the future?

Life at HKU Geography

21. What is the difference between Academic Mentorship Scheme for Geography and Faculty Academic Adviser?

Back to Top

INTERDISCIPLINARY INITIATIVES

HKU Geography

>

>

Undergraduate FAQ

Programme description

1. What is the difference between Geography Major and Urban Governance Major programme?

Eligibility to declare major/minor

2. Should I declare geography as my first major or my second major?

3. Are there any requirements for BA/ BSc students to declare geography as the second major?

4. I am a Nursing student. Can I study geography major/minor programme?

5. I didn’t take any geography courses before, can I pursue a geography minor now?"

6. Is geography related to Business and Financial Services?

Major/Minor combinations

7. What are the pros and cons of double major in Geography and Urban Governance?

Introductory Courses requirements

8. I am a non-Social Science student. Do I need to take the pre-requisite courses?

9. Are final-year students allowed to take Level 100 courses?

Advanced Courses requirements

10. Is it a must to study more than one method courses for the geography major?

11. How many streams/ sub-disciplines are there in the Geography major programme?

12. Can I take all method courses to fulfill the advanced courses requirements?

13. I am a geology/earth sciences student. Should I take GIS courses to enhance my first major and to prepare for future job hunting?

14. Why some method courses e.g. GEOG2137 & GEOG2145 are not offered this year?

15. Are there any geography courses with CI-badge?

Capstone Experience requirements

16. What are the options to fulfil the capstone experience requirements?

18. I am a BEd&amp;BSocSc student with a 5-year programme. When should I take the Capstone Experience course?

17. I want to know more about GEOG4001 Overseas Field Trip.

Social innovation and global citizenship (SI & GC) requirements

19. What are the SI &amp; GC requirements for non-Social Science students?

20. Can GEOG4001 Overseas Field Trip be used to fulfill the SI &amp; GC requirements?

Postgraduate options

22. Do I need a single major or double major in geography to be qualified for the application of Taught postgraduate programme(s) / Research postgraduate programme(s) in the future?

Life at HKU Geography

21. What is the difference between Academic Mentorship Scheme for Geography and Faculty Academic Adviser?

Back to Top

INTERDISCIPLINARY INITIATIVES

HKU Geography

18. I am a BEd&BSocSc student with a 5-year programme. When should I take the Capstone Experience course?

19. What are the SI & GC requirements for non-Social Science students?

20. Can GEOG4001 Overseas Field Trip be used to fulfill the SI & GC requirements?