Caution
Copyright © Monash University 1996
ISBN 1320-6222
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
The main Monash program has been adapted to suit local educational and vocational demands, but is otherwise fully representative of geography's international profile. Its goal is to develop a mature understanding of the following:
+ the key characteristics of places;
+ the complex interdependence of human activities;
+ the roles of human agency in the transformation of the earth's surface;
+ the availability of a rich diversity of approaches to the accumulation of knowledge concerning the inter-relationships of place, people and environment.
The contexts addressed encompass an array of cultures and environments in both hemispheres, and make frequent reference to Australian examples. Students are thereby encouraged to see that individual and collective responsibility for the environment can be expressed in an informed engagement in local, regional and global issues. The department contributes to interdisciplinary programs in American studies, Asian studies, Australian studies, Development studies, environmental engineering, environmental science, European studies and women's studies.
At Monash and throughout the developed world, the term `environment' is employed at every level of the geography curriculum. It subsumes the following:
+ the notion of `natural' environments unaltered by human activity;
+ human-modified environments representing profound alterations over vast areas of the globe and including, most notably, agricultural systems and rural settlement;
+ even more `artificial' environments such as industrialised regions and urban areas.
Students are therefore expected to come to an appreciation of internal variations of landscape and activity within each of these categories. The material and concepts studied require critical evaluation across various spatial scales.
Like many other university subjects, geography requires students to develop the following useful capabilities:
+ identification, description, measurement and classification of phenomena;
+ application of acquired knowledge to new situations;
+ formulation and testing of hypotheses, using qualitative and quantitative techniques as appropriate;
+ employment of effective modes of communication through participation in oral discussion sessions, the preparation of written reports, and data presentation;
+ critical explorations of attitudes, values and prejudices.
An appreciation of the importance of field and laboratory-based observations is required at all levels, especially in physical geography options. Computer techniques are considered highly relevant, from a minimum expectation of basic keyboarding to the integration of sophisticated analytical methods in later segments of the program.
Students may major in either the physical or human branches of geography, in a combination of the two, or in those areas listed below under the `Environmental science' heading. Physical geography shares with other branches of the natural sciences an interest in the earth's atmosphere, vegetation cover and terrain. Human geography shares with other branches of the humanities and social sciences an interest in the ways in which human communities occupy, use and modify the earth's surface. It is recommended that students pursue studies in both branches, to take advantage of geography's invaluable role as a link between the arts and sciences. This is particularly applicable to prospective geography teachers. The current semesterised organisation provides the flexibility to combine courses in this way.
Allowance is made throughout for the selection of individual courses which service broader campus programs, and for the formation of recognised sequences in geography and environmental science.
The primary objective of the first-year syllabus is to explore human impacts on the environment and to introduce key concepts in physical and human geography. No prior experience of geographical education is required to begin first-year study. Variations may be made for commencing students whose records demonstrate an advanced level of ability.
The second-year syllabus permits students to select from a variety of systematic subdisciplines. The satisfactory completion of a full minor sequence in geography equips students with an appreciation of the nature of the subject as a whole and with a knowledge of the fundamental contents and approaches contained within one or both of its human and physical branches.
At third-year level majoring students elect to enrol in one or more of the main systematic fields, which are intended to challenge them with appropriate advanced material and to intensify their familiarity with the purpose and practice of original research work.
Those proceeding into the fourth or honours year have the further opportunity of consolidating their understanding of an area (or areas) of specialisation, while pursuing a research topic under expert supervision. Combined honours may be taken in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science and another discipline provided that all honours requirements have been met in both disciplines and subject to the approval of the heads of both departments.
For postgraduate courses offered by the Department of Geography and Environmental Science please refer to the Arts Graduate Handbook 1996.
Students specialising in human geography are advised to consider including in their degrees subjects in anthropology, economics, history, mathematics, philosophy, politics, sociology, and physical geography. Students proposing to specialise in physical geography should consider including subjects in botany, earth sciences, computer science, mathematics, zoology and human geography.
Credit may be given for relevant subjects completed at other tertiary institutions. Students who wish to take both the major core sequence in environmental science and a major sequence in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science (BA or BSc) will be required to seek the approval of the head of the department. Students wishing to take such a major sequence in geography are advised to take GES1000, GES1020 and GES1040, and a related semester-length subject in another academic department.
Students' enrolments in the honours year will be approved by the head of department in conjunction with advice from coordinators of related disciplines. Students must fulfil the fourth-year requirements for an honours degree in the Faculty of Arts, which would normally include twenty-four points of coursework and a thesis.
First year: Mr S M Legg
Second year: Associate Professor J A Peterson
Third year: Dr K D Gibson
Fourth year: Associate Professor J S Whitelaw
Combined honours may be taken in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science and another discipline provided that all honours requirements have been met in both disciplines and subject to the approval of the heads of both departments.
The due date for the submission of final coursework and the thesis by students to the department is the last day of the final semester of the honours program (Friday 7 June in first semester 1996 and Friday 1 November in second semester 1996).
Any request for an extension of time of more than one week must be submitted to the Committee for Undergraduate Studies no later than two weeks before the end of the final semester.
A student with a BA honours degree majoring in environmental science with a final grade of IIA or better wishing to undertake the MEnvSc offered by the Graduate School of Environmental Science will be able to enter that degree program on an accelerated basis. Students with a BA honours degree may be credited with half a year towards the MEnvSc, while students with a broader combination of arts and science subjects may be credited with an equivalent to the first year of the MEnvSc, subject to satisfying subject requirements in group decision making and the philosophy of environmental issues. Similarly, students wishing to undertake an MA or MSc in an environmental science topic offered in a related discipline may be deemed to have satisfied the MA/MSc Part I requirement.
Lectures: Two per week per course
Tutorial-practical sessions: One per week per course
Fieldwork: There may be up to two full-day field classes
A first-year sequence in geography consists of two one-semester subjects. In the first semester, students on the Clayton campus will enrol in GES1000 (Natural environment and human impact). In second semester, they may choose either GES1020 (Physical systems and the environment), or GES1040 (Development and the environment: geographical perspectives on a world in crisis). Students planning a comprehensive introduction to geography may take all three subjects.
Students not wishing to complete a first-year sequence may take the first-semester subject, or one or both of the second semester subjects.
+ GES1000 Natural environment and human impact
+ GES1020 Physical systems and the environment
+ GES1040 Development: a global perspective
+ GES1062 Geographical perspectives on development in the third world (Peninsula)
+ GES1081 Geographical perspectives on environmental issues (Peninsula)
+ GES2130 Soils, land use and the environment
+ GES2150 Coastal geomorphology and management
+ GES2170 Biogeography - the status of Australian vegetation
+ GES2190 Climates of the earth boundary layer
+ GES2210 Environmental hydrology
+ GES2250 Mankind-environment relationships: perspectives in cultural geography
+ GES2290 Society, nature and settlement in the New World
+ GES2390 Techniques of survey and analysis in geography
+ GES2420 Environmental policy and management
+ GES2630 Property and real estate markets (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ GES2650 Development theory and practice
+ GES2710 Southeast Asia
+ GES2730 Philosophy of the social sciences (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ GES2740 Gender and urban restructuring
+ GES2882 Prehistoric people and environment (Peninsula)
+ GES2992 Development and the environment (Peninsula)
+ GES3350 Resource evaluation and management
+ GES3360 Soils, landscapes and their management
+ GES3390 Techniques of survey and analysis in geography
+ GES3410 Environmental regulation (proposed to be offered next in 1997)
+ GES3470 Development and environment in Asia-Pacific and Australia
+ GES3480 Dilemmas of policy and planning
+ GES3510 Selected studies in meteorology and climatology
+ GES3530 Fluvial geomorphology
+ GES3550 Quaternary environments
+ GES3710 Southeast Asia
+ GES3730 Philosophy of the social sciences (Proposed to be next offered in 1997
+ GES3740 Gender and urban restructuring
+ GES3810 Spatial data handling for thematic mapping
There are three different parts of the final honours year course:
+ GES4820 Seminar in geography
+ GES4840 Directed studies in geography
+ GES4860 Honours thesis