As part of the Society’s work to support geography and geographers at all levels, we recently held a workshop to explore how geography can be better promoted within schools, and how applications at degree level can be encouraged.
Recent reports by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and others have shown that geography is one of the top subjects for graduate earnings, with employment rates for geographers outperforming graduates from other disciplines including physics and politics. In addition, geography has one of the lowest dropout rates for undergraduate courses, with geography students among the most likely to complete their course and report high levels of satisfaction.
However, getting this message across to pupils and their parents can be challenging, so the workshop, which was attended by representatives from 35 universities, looked at how the Society could further support schools and universities in encouraging students to continue studying geography.
The workshop concluded that we should build on our existing efforts, including through our Geography Ambassador scheme, local events linking schools and universities, and encouraging more geography graduates to train to become teachers.
Find out more about why it pays to choose geography and help spread the message by using #ChooseGeography in your own social media posts.