Life at Geography and Environmental Science
Community and accommodation
You will become part of a large community – there are currently over 400 undergraduate students studying Geography and Environmental Science at Reading. There will be plenty of opportunities to meet your fellow students both through academic activities such as team projects and field courses and at the many and varied social events organised by the lively Geogsoc social club, run entirely by students. In addition, Reading University Students Union offers more than 100 sporting and non-sporting societies as well as operating several bars, shops and a nightclub on campus.
Most new first year undergraduate students are offered fully-catered accommodation located on the campus, giving proximity to both the green open spaces and the town centre with its wide range of shops, bars, cafés and nightclubs
Support and facilities
Your first point of contact in terms of guidance and welfare support will be your personal tutor, who you will meet for the first time in Freshers' week. Together with your tutor you will maintain a personal attainment record which records your goals and achievements throughout your university career. Additional support comes from the Careers Advisory Service, the University's Counselling Service, the Study Advisors, Hall Wardens, and the Students' Union.
As well as the learning environment of the department, which has a high provision of IT, learning support at Reading includes:
- IT Services, which provide several hundred computers, training courses and on-line support,
- The Library, which holds over a million volumes as well as around 4000 current periodicals and supports subject focused pages with access to a vast array of on-line research resources.
- Language laboratory facilities for those students taking language options and classes offered by the Institution-wide Language Programme.
Opportunities
- You will also have the opportunity to study abroad with the Erasmus scheme. Read more about studying abroad.
- You can get involved with local schools via the Student tutoring in schools scheme.
- The multi-million pound Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Applied Undergraduate Research Skills (CETL) enables our students to:
- Gain valuable work experience and skills through volunteering in one the University's museums, archives or collections, including the Geology Collection and the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL).
- In your second year you can apply for a Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) placement and get involved with one of the University's cutting edge research projects.