Groningen, Netherlands
DURATION
3 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
01 Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 20,800 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* Dutch, EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA students
** for Non-EU|for EU/EEA EUR 2,530
Key Summary
Introduction
Are you interested in the world around you? Are you fascinated by maps? Do you dare to ask critical questions about the world that you are living in?
Do you believe you can help to further develop our world into a sustainable society? Then Human Geography & Planning may be the right choice for you.
Why is unemployment higher in some regions than in others? What are the social and economic consequences of depopulating areas? How do you deal with different institutions to plan and build new residential areas? You will learn to investigate society in a spatial context and focus on spatial differences because social phenomena happen in specific places, at specific times and have specific impacts. You can use this knowledge to create and develop new ideas to improve the current and future societal landscape, within a broad scope of topics (e.g. labor markets, global development, migration, governance, cultural heritage).
In the first year, you will be introduced to all themes within the fields of Human Geography & Planning. In the second year, the program continues to deepen your knowledge and improve your skills. In the third year, you are allowed to partly fill in your own program. You can follow courses provided by our faculty but you can also take a Minor or do an internship in a related field. There are also possibilities to visit an international university and follow related courses. Finally, you will write your Bachelor's thesis to prove that you acquired the knowledge and skills necessary to become a human geographer and/or urban and regional planner.
Why study this program in Groningen?
If you want to study Human Geography Planning, Groningen is a perfect choice. The strength of the program lies in its combination of five fields: Economic Geography, Real Estate Studies, Population Studies, Cultural Geography, and Planning. There is an open atmosphere and it is easy to contact other students and lecturers.
Curriculum
Year 1
- Reflecting on Human Geography and Spatial Planning (5 EC)
- Urbanism and Planning (SP) (10 EC)
- Economic Geography (10 EC)
- Statistics 1 (5 EC)
- Introduction to Academic Research (5 EC)
- Population Geographies (10 EC)
- Geographic Information Systems (10 EC)
- Rural-Urban Relations (5 EC)
Year 2
- Migration and Development (10 EC)
- Physical Geography (5 EC)
- People, Place and Culture (10 EC)
- Related Elective: Healthy Ageing, Geographies of the United States, Population and Development or Real Estate Principles (5 EC)
- Governance Dynamics (SP) (5 EC)
- Philosophy of Social Science (5 EC)
- Statistics 2 (5 EC)
- Landscapes (5 EC)
- Methods of Academic Research (HGP) (10 EC)
Year 3
- Minor or Optional Modules (30 EC)
- Geography, Planning and the European Union (5 EC)
- Planning Dynamics (5 EC)
- Bachelor's Project (15 EC)
- Fieldwork Abroad (5 EC)
Study abroad
- Study abroad is optional
- For an average of 15 weeks
- Maximum of 30 EC
Every year dozens of students of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences go on exchange with a foreign university to take electives and/or write their thesis. The faculty has exchange arrangements with universities in Europe, New Zealand, and the USA.
Admissions
Career Opportunities
Job prospects
Graduates with a Bachelor's degree in Human Geography Planning often decide to pursue a Master's degree in a related field. Our Master's degrees grant you access to careers in business, government, and research.
Suitable jobs can be found in the world of local planning and government agencies, academic and non-academic research institutes, international organizations (or NGOs), advisory/consultancy agencies, and elsewhere. For example, we have alumni working for housing associations where they investigate which types of housing should be built in new residential areas given the prospected residents.
During the program at the University of Groningen, we offer support for your career preparation.
Job examples
- Advisor spatial planning at a consultancy firm
- Project manager at a local government agency
- High school geography teacher