Geography/Scottish Literature

Geography and Scottish literature is a pairing that brings together two disciplines deeply rooted in the study of place, landscape, and human experience. Geography examines the surface of the Earth as the site of human living and working, considering how physical and human landscapes vary across the globe, how they interact, and how they respond to change. It is a dynamic subject engaging with local and global issues ranging from coastal management and environmental hazards to migration, urban development, and environmental justice.

Scottish literature traces how writers in Scots, Gaelic, and English have engaged with the landscapes, communities, and experiences of Scotland over centuries, producing one of the richest and most distinctive literary traditions in the British Isles.

At the University of Glasgow, this part-time programme allows you to combine serious engagement with both disciplines while managing other commitments. The geography strand develops key skills in qualitative and statistical data analysis, fieldwork, and independent research, applying these to questions about the variability of physical and human landscapes and the forces that bind them together. The Scottish literature strand gives you rigorous literary training through the study of texts by Barbour, Burns, Scott, MacDiarmid, and contemporary writers, developing your capacity to read closely, interpret carefully, and engage with the Scottish tradition in its full linguistic richness.

The programme includes a year abroad, broadening your academic and personal horizons.

Graduates from geography and literature programmes go on to careers in education, heritage and cultural organisations, environmental and planning roles, journalism, writing, arts administration, and the civil service. The combination of analytical geographical thinking and literary critical skills is distinctive, and both disciplines develop the research and communication abilities that employers across the public, private, and voluntary sectors value. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in geography, Scottish studies, literature, or environmental management.