Geographical Sciences

Geographical Science is the science that focuses on place and space hence the adage that ‘Everything has to do with Geography’. As a discipline, geography brings together traditions from both the physical and social sciences. Geographical scientists thus focus on understanding the interactions amongst the earth’s landscapes, peoples and the environments in a bid to address major world challenges including deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, flooding, global warming, desertification, agricultural patterns, food security and supply, national and international debt burdens, and poverty among others. The Master of Geographical Sciences thus envisions creating a critical mass of graduates able to marry the physical and social sciences as they utilize their geographical sciences knowledge and skills including Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing in addressing contemporary and emerging issues.

General Program Objectives

The aim of the programme is to create a multi-skilled and dynamic human resource of graduates with competencies of utilizing geographical knowledge and skills to tackle contemporary, emerging and future challenges.

Specific objectives are to:
The specific objectives of the Master of Geographical Sciences programme are:
(i) To build a sought-after human resource pool of graduates with geographical knowledge and skills to address contemporary and emerging issues across scales and sectors
(ii) To advance the understanding of Geographical Sciences for graduate students from diverse disciplines
(iii) To build capacity and capabilities in geographical research and information management
(iv) To impart knowledge on the integrating nature of geography for multidisciplinary response to society’s need to understand and manage the complexity of the world.

Employment Prospects
The program targets to generate experts that will support the following areas:
1. Generation of knowledge and research at both local and international levels. Geographical Sciences are at the cores of understanding place and space. The achievement of Development agenda such as the National Development Plan III (NDP III) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is hinged on research and knowledge generation in the geographical sciences.
2. Practitioners of Geographical Sciences and affiliated disciplines aimed at ensuring sustainable management of landscapes, peoples and the environments
3. Private and public consultants in Geographical Sciences and affiliated disciplines including management of landscapes, peoples and the environments.
4. Academia and educators to support training and skilling of future Geographical Scientists / Geographers at tertiary and secondary education levels.
5. Entrepreneurship and innovation for socio-development but also handle societal problems like unemployment.

Program Outcomes
The field of Geographical Sciences is experiencing rapid developments especially of contemporary tools, techniques and technologies. As such, it is planned that the Master of Geographical Sciences (MGS) will produce multi-skilled and dynamic graduates with competencies of utilizing geographical knowledge and skills to tackle contemporary and emerging challenges. Additionally, MGS graduates are expected to be able to demonstrate a deep understanding of geographical phenomena as they tackle the contemporary and emerging challenges in both the humanities and sciences aided by the research and analytical skills that are core to this programme.

Conduct of The Program :
The Master of Geographical Sciences programme will be hosted in the Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics and Climatic Sciences, which is located in the School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences building, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University.

Target group:
The revised Master of Geographical Sciences degree programme targets both fresh graduates and professionals from diverse academic backgrounds who wish to improve or pursue careers in Geography related fields. As a multidisciplinary programme, it will accept applicants with a minimum of BSc, BA, and BASS in Geography, Agriculture, Environment, Natural Resource Management, Geology, Health, Medicine, Social sciences and Land-use Planning. Applicants/professional with other backgrounds who demonstrate reasonable experience in Geography related fields will also be positively considered. The expected number of students for the programme is 30.

Admission Requirements
The minimum entry requirement for the programme is second class lower division class degree from a recognized university or Institution in relevant fields including Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in Geography, Agriculture, Forestry, Soil Science, Meteorology, Hydrology/ or Water Resources, Geology, Environmental Science, Social Sciences including Gender and Women Studies, Economics, Tourism, Environmental Management, Urban Planning, Population Studies, Botany, Zoology, Civil Engineering and Surveying

Duration of the Program:

MGS is a Two – year DAY programme conducted through Coursework and Examinations over a TWO-year period (six Semesters). The duration of each semester is seventeen weeks (17 weeks).

Course Assessment: Each Paper is assessed out of a total mark of 100% apportioned as follows:
(a) Coursework 40%
(b) Final Examination 60%
Designation of the award:
Master of Geographical Sciences.
Nature of the program :
Full time programme.