Geography: Society - Environment - Future - Master of Science

The degree course "Geography: Society - Environment - Future" (GUZ) is aimed at students who want to actively shape the future. Many of the major challenges for future development - environmental pollution, globalization, climate change, migration, sustainability - can only be met if the traditional boundaries between natural science and social science and humanities thinking are overcome. If you want to contribute to this, GUZ is the right place for you! The courses are based on a triangle of society, the environment and the future. This means that not every course touches on all three areas of the GUZ triangle, but that you can develop individual profiles within the triangle.

GUZ prepares students both for an academic career and for entry into many practical professional fields. The Institute of Geography ensures successful preparation through subject-specific and methodological, but above all project- and research-oriented courses. The degree course is characterized above all by the following unique features, which clearly distinguish it from comparable degree courses in this combination:

• the combination of natural science and social science perspectives for problem- and solution-oriented engagement with current and future societal challenges, whereby individual focus areas are made possible,
• the future orientation, which is reflected in both the content and methodological orientation and enables a solution-oriented examination of possible future developments,
• the project orientation with a one-year study project in which they develop and carry out their own research and the future workshop, framed by smaller projects and a seminar on project management.

Students on previous Master's degree courses at the Institute of Geography have repeatedly praised the fact that the teaching staff are very successful in combining academic standards with high practical relevance. As a result, our students are not only excellently prepared for an academic career, but are also in demand on the job market. In addition to the specialist content, in which individual profiles can be developed, specific skills are not only promoted in the methodological modules ("Future Workshop I and II") and in the study project. In the "Knowledge Transfer" seminar, special emphasis is also placed on communication and knowledge transfer - both within academia and in practice.

Areas for which GUZ qualifies students in practice include public administration (e.g. municipal environmental officers and climate managers, district and city managers, economic development agencies), consulting firms (e.g. corporate and municipal consultancies), the energy industry, urban, regional and environmental planning, tourism, non-governmental organizations and various service and production companies (e.g. expansion, corporate social responsibility, sustainability management). Orientation towards non-university professional fields is promoted as part of the degree course through the regular involvement of lecturers from the field in the applied seminars ("Professional Practice I") and the two-month professional internship ("Professional Practice II").

Master's degree program "Geography - Society, Environment, Future"

- Exemplary study plan (120 CP)

The scope of the degree program amounts to 120 credit points (CP), which are spread over a total of ten modules:

• the module "Integrative Introduction" (12 CP) in the "Fundamentals" area,
• the module "Project Management" (4 CP) and the module "Study Project" (14 CP) in the "Study Project" area,
• in the "Future Workshop" area, the two modules "Future Workshop I" and "Future Workshop II" (both 12 CP)
• the module of the same name (12 CP) and the module "Specialist specialization" (4 CP) in the area of "Profile development"
• the two modules "Professional Practice I" and "Professional Practice II" (both 10 CP) in the area of "Professional Practice",
• the final Master's module (30 CP).

The access requirement for enrolment in the Master's degree program "Geography: Society - Environment - Future" is a degree in an undergraduate degree program in Geography, but also in other suitable degree programs. These can be degree programs in the social sciences (especially social sciences or Business Administration and Economics), natural sciences (especially bio- or geosciences) and/or environmental/planning sciences. Good knowledge of German and English must also be demonstrated. Further information on the access requirements can be found in the  admission regulations.