Master of Arts specialisation in Geography

Geography is exciting and relevant. You’ll enjoy Geography if you’re interested in the worlds around you and want to make a positive difference. Geography addresses a wide range of contemporary challenges such as: climate change and sea-level rise, dirty rivers, uneven economic development, sustainable communities, migration, housing and health policy, urban pollution, indigenous rights, and environmental management.

Geographers study places, human and physical interactions and the processes that shape those interactions. They explore why nations, regions, cities and communities develop differently in different settings, how landscapes are formed, how social, economic and natural landscapes are related, and how to make better worlds by responding effectively to human-environment problems.

The University of Auckland Geography programme is the highest-ranking in New Zealand, and 30th in the world. As geographers we study what’s special about places, and our programme highlights Auckland and Aotearoa/New Zealand: its distinctive topography and coastline, fascinating cultural and economic history, exciting social diversity, and innovative responses to environmental challenges. We include Māori and indigenous knowledges across our teaching curriculum and research programmes. We also acknowledge Auckland’s Pacific character and connections to island nations as well as links with Southeast Asia and beyond. You can study Geography as an undergraduate major or postgraduate specialisation in either the Faculty of Science or Faculty of Arts programmes.

You can study Geography at postgraduate level in either Faculty of Science or Faculty of Arts programmes.
Postgraduate Geography spans the full range of research interests in the discipline through a wide variety of advanced and specialised courses. These include:
- Physical and biological systems: climatology, hydrology, biogeography, and geomorphology
- Social, economic and cultural change: urban processes, policy formation, globalisation and its effects, political economy, or political ecology, health and well-being, regional and rural spaces
- Environmental management: environmental change, sustainable development, science and society relations
- Geographical Information Science (GIS): mapping and analysing information

Geographers are sought after as effective critical thinkers and problem solvers. In our courses you’ll study real world issues. You’ll also develop the diverse practical skills, ethical insights and analytical capabilities required to address them and lead debates in all parts of society. Our graduates build successful careers across a range of roles in research and development, government, policy, industry, and education.

A Geography degree is more than a passport to a wide range of careers; it gives graduates an edge. Many of our graduates use their training directly in the workplace, while others find that their broad education and flexible skills are in high demand in the job market. Geographers can be found working in a wide range of occupations in an equally wide range of organisations. In recent years, Geography graduates have found careers in the following areas: