Geology with Integrated Foundation Year
Geology is the science of the Earth itself: its materials, structures, processes and history. It asks how mountains form and erode, how continents drift, how oceans open and close, how mineral deposits accumulate, and how the rock record preserves evidence of life and climate across billions of years. It is a discipline that combines fieldwork in some of the world's most dramatic landscapes with laboratory analysis and quantitative modelling, and its graduates are in demand wherever society needs to understand the ground beneath its feet, from energy and mining to civil engineering, environmental management and natural hazard assessment.
This four-year programme at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College begins with an integrated foundation year, which builds the scientific foundations in mathematics, chemistry and physics alongside introductory geology, giving you a thorough grounding before you move into the main degree. The following years develop your understanding of mineralogy, petrology, structural geology, geochemistry, sedimentology and palaeontology, with field skills running through the programme as a core strand. A sandwich year allows you to gain substantial industry or research experience before your final year, and the programme also offers the possibility of a year abroad, broadening your scientific education in an international setting.
Work placement opportunities mean you can build professional connections and practical skills alongside your academic development.
Geology develops a distinctive way of thinking: you learn to reason from incomplete evidence, to read landscape as a record of process, and to communicate findings clearly to varied audiences. The numerical, analytical and practical skills you build are transferable to a wide range of roles.
Graduates pursue careers in the oil, gas and minerals industries, in environmental consultancy, hydrogeology, geotechnical engineering, geochronology, climate science and natural hazard management. Government agencies, engineering firms, environmental regulators and research institutions all employ geologists. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study or research, and the breadth of the degree supports entry into a wide range of further qualifications.