Geographers at the University of Dundee are celebrating the highest possible rating of their department after a rigorous appraisal by the Quality Assurance Agency. The publication of the report comes hard on the heels of the recent, and separate, Research Assessment Exercise which upped their rating to grade 4 - signifying national and international excellence.
A team of independent QAA reviewers gave the Dundee department the top "commendable" rating after systematically checking standards and quality over a number of visits throughout the last year.
The QAA concluded "Overall the reviewers have confidence in the academic standards achieved by the programmes in geography at the University of Dundee-The quality of teaching and learning is commendable."
Professor Allan Findlay who took over as head of department at the start of 2001 from Professor Alan Werritty said: "This is excellent news, especially when added to the outcome of the recent RAE which showed national excellence in all research submitted and international excellence in areas such as population geography and environmental systems research. No other UK geography department of our size has achieved such a rating. Geography is a subject which is enjoying increasing recognition for its relevance to the modern world, tackling environmental, social and regional problems. Students thinking about studying geography can be confident of a buoyant demand for geography graduates in a wide variety of fields and this latest QAA report means they can be equally confident in the high quality of courses in the subject at the University of Dundee.
The department, which enrols around 150 full time students a year and has 22 staff including 14 full time teaching staff, delivers a wide range of modules embracing human and physical geography plus training in geographical analysis.
In the last six years the proportion of honours students taking single honours in geography has quadrupled from 17% to 70% indicating the growing strength of the geography curriculum as well as its increasing recognition and popularity as a subject.
Meanwhile progression and completion rates are very good - close to 100% in years 3 and 4 - in spite of the fact that some 20% of the student intake are from wider access backgrounds who may not enter with traditional qualifications./ends
Contact Professor Allan Findlay 01382 345083