AREA: TOPICAL GEOGRAPHY
Learning Goal 1: Students will learn how human, physical and environmental components of the world interact.
Objectives:
a. Students will be familiarized with economic processes such as globalization, trade and transportation and their impacts on economic, cultural and social activities.
b. Students will be introduced to demographic, social and cultural attributes such as migration, social relations and cultural identity. The main objective is to underline that human activities are subject to adaptation and change. c. Students will learn about the variety of political systems and nation states which administratively subdivide the regions of the world. How human activities are regulated and under the jurisdiction of a variety of geographical units and how these relations shape the economic and social space are of particular relevance. d. Students will gain a level of understanding about environmental systems such as climate and biogeography. e. Students will be exposed to the nature of physical systems such as geomorphologic processes and natural hazards. f. Students will be able to read and interpret information on different types of maps.
AREA: REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY
Learning Goal 2: Students will learn the regional geography of the world, particularly from the perspective of how human, physical and environmental components of the world interact.
Objectives
a. Students will get an introduction to the main regions of the world in terms of both their uniqueness and similarities. They will thus gain a perspective about social and cultural diversity of the world.
b. Students will learn the relationships between the global, the regional and the local, particularly how places are inserted in regional and global processes.
c. Students will be exposed to historical, economic, cultural, social and physical characteristics of regions, notably how they came to be, their main role and function and how they are changing.
d. Students will see how human activities and the regional environment interact, particularly how societies reflect their regional environment.
AREA: GEOGRAPHIC THEORY
Learning Goal 3: Students will learn geographic theory and its use in understanding real world processes.
Objectives
a. Students will understand the concept of place and how it is connected to people's sense of belonging to the physical environment, landscape and culture.
b. Students will understand the fundamental concepts of spatial interaction and diffusion, which explain how human activities are influenced by the concept of distance.
c. Students will understand the concepts of specialization and interdependencies, namely how regions produce what they do not consume and consume what they do not produce.
d. Students will understand the concepts of urbanization and suburbanization, including the variety of forms and structures that cities take around the world.
e. Students will understand regional development and how economic opportunities are captured, retained and expanded.
f. Students will understand the concepts of public and private space and how human interaction is influenced by regulation and social norms regarding different categories of space.
AREA: GEOGRAPHIC METHODOLOGY
Learning Goal 4: Students will acquire geographic analytical skills that can be applied to a variety of research and professional tasks where the analysis of spatial information is required.
Objectives
a. Students will be exposed to cartographic information and will develop map reading skills, ranging from the simple reckoning of locations to the understanding of the spatial structure and process that maps represent.
b. Students will become familiar with standard quantitative and qualitative methods, enabling them to accurately understand the meaning of information and how this information can be used to understand economic and social issues.
c. In addition to the ability of understanding and reading maps, students will develop cartography skills and will be able to create maps on their own.
d. Students will learn how to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS), particularly for the purpose of qualitative and quantitative information analysis as well as for cartography. GIS will be the main tool in which students will apply the geographical methodology.
