Skip navigation

Annual Report 1999: Undergraduate School 1998-1999


Review by the Director

Role of the Undergraduate School

The Undergraduate School is run by a member of the academic staff serving as Director (currently Dr P M R Howell), and more importantly by a full-time Secretary (Mrs Veronica Forbes) who manages the work of the School and its office on a day-to-day basis. The School organises the Department's teaching programme for the Geographical Tripos, including the timetabling and location of lectures, submission of coursework, arrangements for visiting lecturers, production of the course guide, the running of examination business, assessment of courses and lecturers, and producing the agenda and minutes for a range of committee meetings. It should be noted that Mrs Forbes, also in the course of these duties, is responsible for teaching that falls outside the remit of the Undergraduate School, and it is to be expected that this responsibility will rather increase than decrease in the next few years.

One of the major responsibilities outside the day-to-day running of undergraduate teaching is the preparation of the following year's teaching programme, which is discussed and approved by the academic staff an the annual Teaching Meeting, chaired by the Director during the Easter Term; last year, following this business, a meeting of Directors of Studies was instituted to improve coordination between the Department and the Colleges of the University.

There is also an Undergraduate School Committee that serves as a link between staff and students, and holds meetings every term. The undergraduate representation on this committee was enlarged in 1997 to a total of five members. One person represents each year group (Part IA, Part IB, Part II), one person is the Faculty Board student representative, and one is a committee member of the Cambridge University Geographical Society.

Changes in the Tripos

Dr Howell took over as Director of the Undergraduate School at the beginning of 1998, at a stage when changes to the structure of the Geographical Tripos agreed in previous years were being put into place. The major change was the streamlining of the Part II teaching programme, reducing the number of papers offered to 15, from which students would take four rather than five papers; the final-year dissertation being correspondingly more important was at the same time increased to a minimum of 8,000 and a maximum of 10,000 words. The year has been one in which these changes have been assessed, with an eye to the rolling programme of reforms to the Geographical Tripos that will continue in years to come. Future changes that have been agreed upon but not implemented principally concern (i) the Part IB tripos, which will move in time to a choice of five papers from two groups of five papers, roughly representing human and physical/environmental grouping, plus the submitted essay; and (ii) changes to the structure of assessment at Part II, where course coordinators will have the choice of adhering to the three-hour, three-question examination paper, or a three-hour, two question paper plus submitted work. All these changes (both implemented and projected) push the Tripos towards placing more weight on submitted course work, and continue efforts to diversify the modes of assessment used – both objectives that command a broad consensus within and without the department.

As far as the normal running of the Tripos goes, it has been the custom to produce statistics on such matters as the gender breakdown of Tripos results, which in 1999 showed a characteristic pattern of male over-achievement at Part IA moderating to a very well-balanced pattern by Part II. The School continues to monitor these statistics, and it is to be hoped that greater flexibility and diversity in modes of assessment will contribute to a more proportionate set of results. Overall, the pattern of Tripos results has not changed very significantly from 1998-99: the steady increase in the numbers of firsts awarded has tailed off at Part II at least, and the general inflation of grades over the last few years has not manifested itself very dramatically. Thirds, however, are virtually an endangered species in the Geography department, with only two being awarded in any element of the Tripos over the last two years of examinations.

Residential field classes

The commitment of the Undergraduate School to field teaching remains strong, with project work carried out on the Part IB field classes firmly established as part of that year's assessment process. Three week-long residential field classes have been run in the Mediterranean at Easter for several years, with participation in one of these classes compulsory for Part IB students; all students are offered via lectures an introduction to the geography of the Mediterranean before the field classes begin. These classes are general rather than specific, covering a range of topics in physical and human geography, and serve a significant purpose in introducing students to methodologies and techniques that will be helpful to them in carrying out their final-year dissertation. The field classes since 1995 have been as follows:
1
2
3
Easter vacation 1995
Algarve
Crete
Netherlands
Easter vacation 1996
Algarve
Crete
Mallorca
Easter vacation 1997
Aeolian islands, Italy
Malta
S.E. Spain
Easter vacation 1998
Algarve
Crete
Mallorca
Easter vacation 1999
Aeolian islands, Italy
Crete
Malta

The enthusiasm of students for these classes remains high, although the burden for the teaching staff is considerable, and very unevenly distributed: the classes rely therefore very heavily on the commitment and commitments of a section of the teaching staff, which certainly cannot be taken for granted. One other note of warning may be signalled here, which is that for students not eligible for LEA support the full cost of the class is expected to be paid: and with a small but potentially growing number of foreign students this heavy additional cost, for a compulsory trip, must be considered at some stage down the line.

The Part II dissertation

The compulsory dissertation is, like residential fieldwork, a very long-established feature of the Geographical Tripos, and as has been explained above has become even more important in the assessment of Part II students. The dissertation, unsupervised after initial discussion with directors of studies and other members of the teaching staff, offers students the opportunity to carry out an independent investigation based on geographical ideas, methods, and technical skills acquired during the course of the Tripos. As part of its teaching on research design, the Department offers students lectures on the design of dissertations and research methods in key areas of the discipline, but the Department otherwise imposes very little constraint on either the topic chosen or the location of the study, other than restrictions that are felt to be desirable on grounds of the intellectual merits of the project, its feasibility, logistics, and questions of safety. Students prepare their proposal for submission to their Directors of Study, and the Head of Department, at the end of the Lent term; they are also required to submit an assessment of the risks involved in carrying out their research.

Most undergraduates in recent years have chosen to locate their dissertation outside the UK, using it as an opportunity to extend their experience of overseas travel. These overseas dissertations are often in Europe or North America, but in some cases they involve travel to very far-flung destinations. Recent years have not diverged from the trend analysed in the four years from 1994-97, with 55% working outside the UK, with 12% in Europe, 11% in North America, and 30% travelling to less developed countries.

Teaching is provided in the first two years of the Tripos which prepares students for the dissertation by helping them to acquire skills in research design, data analysis and report presentation, including IT skills and computing. In addition, as has been stated above, the Part IB field classes provide further hands-on training. The dissertation remains unsupervised, however, a position that is accepted as desirable by both the teaching staff and undergraduates, given that unlike postgraduates doing dissertations undergraduates compete against each other directly. In any event, the standard of dissertations is generally very high, with good quality in a wide range of topics and subject areas, with the best dissertations being quite outstanding, and typically recognised outside the Department. In 1998, for example, one student, Nicola James of St John's College, was awarded a national prize for her dissertation on “Haussmannisation and Urban Ethics”. Rightly, the majority of students and staff regard the dissertation as one of the crowning glories of the Geographical Tripos.

P M R Howell
Director of the Undergraduate School

Geographical Tripos Statistics 1998-99

Distribution of Tripos Results by Class

Part 1A
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
I
7
7.9%
6
7.7%
6
7%
5
5%
3
3%
5
5%
2.1
47
52.8%
51
65.4%
48
57%
53
58%
56
58%
51
55%
2.2
33
37%
21
26.9%
30
36%
34
37%
36
37%
34
37%
3
2
2.3%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
2
2%
2
2%
Ordinary
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Total
89
78
84
92
97
92

Part 1B
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
I
10
14%
10
12%
10
11%
4
4%
5
6%
7
9%
2.1
52
71%
59
70.2%
57
63%
60
61%
59
68%
50
61%
2.2
11
15%
15
17.8%
21
23%
31
32%
23
26%
23
28%
3
0
0%
0
0%
2
2%
3
3%
0
0%
2
2%
Ordinary
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Total
73
84
90
98
87
82

Part II
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1
11
13%
20
22%
15
15%
12
14%
11
13%
11
10%
2.1
57
68%
50
55%
64
63%
57
65%
56
68%
71
68%
2.2
16
19%
20
22%
20
20%
16
18%
16
19%
23
22%
3
0
0%
0
0%
2
2%
3
3%
0
0%
0
0%
Ordinary
0
0%
1
1%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Total
84
91
101
88
83
105

Gender Breakdown of Tripos Results 1999
1
2.1
2.2
3
Ordinary

PART IA
Female [38]
1
2.6%
20
52.7%
16
42.1%
1
2.6%
0
0%
Male [51]
6
11.6%
27
52.9%
17
33.3%
1
2%
0
0%
Total [89]
7
7.9%
47
52.8%
33
37.1%
2
2.2%
0
0%

PART IB
Female [47]
5
11%
37
78%
5
11%
0
0%
0
0%
Male [26]
5
19%
15
58%
6
23%
0
0%
0
0%
Total [73]
10
14%
52
71%
11
15%
0
0%
0
0%

PART II
Female [46]
6
13%
34
74%
6
13%
0
0%
0
0%
Male [ 38]
5
13%
23
61%
10
26%
0
0%
0
0%
Total [84]
11
13%
57
68%
16
19%
0
0%
0
0%