Duration
Theory : 50h Th
Practice : 45h Pr
Number of credits
| Bachelor in geography : general | 10 crédits |
Lecturer
Theory : Guénaël Devillet, Jean-Marie Halleux, Serge Schmitz
Practice : Guénaël Devillet, Jean-Marie Halleux, Serge Schmitz
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
All year long, with partial in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Theory
The teaching unit on the whole year is made of:
- 50 hours of theoretical courses (1st quadrimestre)
- 18 hours of practicals (2nd quadrimestre)
- 3 tutorials to guide the development of the integrated work (2nd quadrimestre)
Theoretical lectures incorporate the following chapters (50h Th):
- History of geography (Serge Schmitz)
- The geography fundamentals (including the main concepts of the discipline) (Jean-Marie Halleux)
- Geography of energy (Christoph Kittel)
- The geography of development and globalisation (Jean-Marie Halleux)
- Population geography (Serge Schmitz)
- Political geography (including the political geography of water) (Serge Schmitz)
- Location of agricultural productions (Guénaël Devillet)
- Location of industries and services (Guénaël Devillet)
The course contents are focused on major issues related to the global scale. They are complementary to the contents of the course "Urban territories: diagnoses and planning" taught in B2 which are focused on the urban and local scales.
Faced with simplistic statements and models, the developments of the theoretical courses aim to understand and make sense of realities, actors's interactions and spatial interactions linked to the issue of globalization. Theoretical courses also aim to highlight the main global issues in relation to six main themes: energy, food, economic development, environment, demography and governance.
- The energy issues are analysed in relation to the productions, the organisation of the markets and the environment.
- The food issues are articulated with the theme of agricultural production, by dealing with both, their spatial distributions and the organisation of their markets.
- The issues of economic development are developed in different parts of the courses: the chapter dedicated to the geography of development but also the chapters dedicated to the location of economic activities (agriculture, industry and services)
- The environmental issues are also developed in different chapters, notably in the chapter on political geography (in relation to the geopolitics of water) as well as in the chapter on population geography (which questions the relationships between resources and human settlement).
- Concerning the demographic issues, topics such as the ageing of the population and international migrations will be developed beside the resource issue.
- Concerning the governance issues, we will develop topics such as conflicts and cultural diversities.
Practice
See GEOG2014-A-a
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Theory
The learning outcomes related to the theoretical courses (1st quadrimestre) are the following:
- give future geographers the key concepts and approaches of social and economic geography;
- provide theoretical and practical knowledges on political geography, economic geography, population geography, transport geography;
- raise awareness of the students about the specificity of the geographical approach;
- provide the ability to reframe issues and political debates related to contemporary global issues.
The learning outcomes related to the practicals and to the integrated work (2nd quadrimestre) are the following:
- to collect, to analyse and to criticize data;
- to promote awareness on the scientific approach (hypothesis formulation, modeling, construction of indices, citation of sources and references);
- to develop the capacity for synthesis and the ability to develop a multi-scale approach;
- to develop independence and time-management skills;
- to develop a reflection on the appropriate scales to consider.
Practice
See GEOG2014-A-a
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Theory
The course requires what can be expected from a student graduated from the secondary school who has chosen a university education. An open attitude towards social and economic problems is also expected.
Practice
See GEOG2014-A-a
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Theory
The course is made of:
- 50 hours of theoretical courses (1st quadrimestre)
- 18 hours of practicals (2nd quadrimestre)
- 3 tutorials to guide the development of the integrated work (plus one formative evaluation during the exam session) (2nd quadrimestre)
Practice
See GEOG2014-A-a
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Theory
The practicals (1st quadrimestre) include six main themes and activities:
- data acquisition
- graph creation using a spreadsheet
- exercises on population geography (population projections)
- how to use search engines and the library?
- the systemic approach and the flowcharts
- exercises on development geography
The participation to the practicals is obligatory.
The realization of the practicals helps the students to develop tools and skills in order to prepare an integrated work (2nd quadrimestre). For this integrated work, each student works on a particular region of the world on the basis of the UN typology (22 regions). He prepares a report aiming to analyse the relations between the considered region and the main issues developed by the theoretical lectures. The report develops a multi-scale approach aiming to articulate the situation in the investigated region with the issue of globalization.
Each student receives a region chosen by the academic staff. He starts working on this basis and considers how to focus his work on one of the six main issues developed by the theoretical lectures. The student has then to identify the specific issue he will work on.
The written work will represent between 25,000 and 35,000 characters (including spaces). This work will, at least, integrate two original documents: one graph and one flowchart. It will also integrate cartographic materials (not personnal ones). Those documents will be systematically discussed in the text.
Practice
See GEOG2014-A-a
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Theory
Documents available on MyULiège : slide presentations and scientific publications related to the contents of the theoretical courses.
Practice
See : GEOG2014-A-a
Theory
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam ( open-ended questions ) AND oral exam
Written work / report
Further information:
Formative evaluation for the practicals.
The evaluation includes two marks: one for integrated work (40% of final evaluation) and one for the exams (60% of final evaluation). The subject of the exams relates to the theoretical courses.
A first written exam is held during the January session. A second written exam is held during the June session for the students who did not pass in January. An oral examination is held during the second session (August-September).
Practice
See : GEOG2014-A-a
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Theory
The detailed agenda will be announced at the first theoretical course.
Practice
See : GEOG2014-A-a
Contacts
Theory
Lecturers: Guénaël Devillet, Jean-Marie Halleux (coordinateur), Christoph Kittel et Serge Schmitz
In charge of the practicals: N.
In charge of the integrated work: S. Schmitz, G. Chuma et S. Nicola
Contact adresses:
g.devillet@uliege.be
Jean-Marie.Halleux@uliege.be
S.Schmitz@uliege.be
Practice
See : GEOG2014-A-a