[Regina] Why did you choose Kingston?
[Francesca]I really wanted to be nearer London but not completely within the city.
Which is what appealed to me. But also, I'm from Sheffield and a lot
of people that I went to school with stays in the North of England and I was quite keen to move outside.
To branch out and experience something totally different than I kind of
knew and that anybody else I knew had done. So it has it's been really good. I like the
community of Kingston because it's not too big, so everyone's quite together.
And I like that in uni there's a lot of people that you recognise all the time and it's good.
There is a good amount of people on the course. I don't think with a higher amount of people
we would have had the same environment. [Oliver] We get a lot of one on one. [Francesca] Yeah an awful lot,
and everyone's got a really good rapport within the course.
[Regina] You can get a relationships going, really solid. [Francesca] Yeah really tight and I that is because of the good amount of numbers of people.
[Oliver] What about you? Why Kingston?
[Regina] Kingston for me was because I didn't want to be at home. I was from London, I was Central like East, East Central and I was like, I wanna
get out of here. But I didn't want to be too far away from home. So I thought hmmm, Surrey.
Then I looked and there was Kingston and the thing was, the structure and the content of
the course, the field trips. When I looked at the website, the fieldtrips jumped out at me.
But then when I looked at what I was being taught through the modules I was like,
hold on, everything here is related to the real world. Like you can see things such as
global warming, migration, stuff like that and everything that you see you see in the real world.
Yeah, it's like you said, apparent. And everything you can relate it.
Like everything you do there's an aspect of it to do with society. You know what I mean?
Like there is policies of global warming, climate change, migration - which is a big issue in this country.
So you can see, I think that it's a very relevant degree. [Oliver] You can apply it?
[Regina] I've got a question for you. What do you enjoy most about the Human Geography?
What aspect of the course do you enjoy the most?
[Oliver] Well obviously the field trips are good fun because you're out in the field and it's conducting the research.
We've just come back from Malta. It's the first real project that we've had to do, or I've have to do, off my own back.
An independent study project. So we thought of our own question, a research question.
Our own study, our own research and we looked at everything ourselves before we went.
So we conducted our own literature review and when we were out there we had to arrange our
own interviews, conduct our own interviews, and I think that it was good to get the experience.
[Francesca] I think with the field trips as well, the lecturers that we went away with, Annie and
Jennie and Stuart. They're so enthusiastic. All the time, the entire week that we were
away everything was interesting. There was one day when it rained the whole entire day
that we were out with Stuart and he managed to keep everyone's spirits up.
[Oliver] Yeah it's a good rapport. [Francesca] Yeah really good. I think actually the lecturers really keep everybody going
for all the entire trip. [Regina] The thing I like about the field trips is that in a way it
prepares you for the real world. Because you're having to identify a problem, develop a strategy
how to solve that problem. Getting the data and then analysing and making sense of it.
You go into the real world that's exactly what we're gonna have to do. You know what I mean?
So I think this experience during the course of a degree is vital, it's essential.
It's a really, really, really good thing. Not a lot of courses do this. But for us as human
geographers to obviously do it, I think is really, really good.
[Oliver] I think the fact that the course itself, is predominantly coursework based, I think benefitted me. Because I struggle
with exams, I always have. I think the fact that it is coursework based has helped me.
[Francesca] I think like you said, with South Africa. We felt quite a lot with Malta that before we
went, in our preliminary study, you kind of built up your perceptions of what it was going to be like.
When we got actually thrown in to the Maltese community it was totally different.
But it enabled us to take everything on board and actually we progressed so much further
than we initially imagined I think to be able to actually do the fieldwork really pushed us didn't it?
[Oliver] Did you go on the South Africa trip in your final year? [Regina] I did go on the South Africa trip. It was amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing.
Because the work and play ratio was good. You had to do the academic side of work, but still you
got to enjoy South Africa as a country. You got to see what you'd been taught in action.
Things about poverty and even development. Because it was right in your face.
So it was like transferring everything from the classroom into the real world. It was good.
[Oliver] Did you get to go into the shantytowns? [Regina] We did get to go into the shantytowns.
The way it was, there was a project on shantytowns. So we had to go in there to interview people who live in shantytowns and see where they operate.
And also for me and most of the people on
the course, it changed our perceptions. Because what the western world sees of
a shanty town is: Oh it's slum, it's crime, it's drug, it's rape. But when you go there
and you see small businesses, children going to school, these people working, It's like,
Hold on this is not what I see in England. It changes your perception of everything.
But it's pretty good. [Francesca] Did you do a project on multiple different things or did you just get to pick one?
[Regina] There was two different projects. You picked an individual project. Mine was
a community project and there strategic report where you have to look at all the aspects
of development, such as water, HIV and AIDS. Anything that's relevant to South Africa,
and you literally write a report on all those aspects. So, even though you have different
fields of geography - human, physical or sustainable development. You would then write the strategic
report based on your field. So as a human geographer I look at issues related to HIV,
gender and stuff like that. Someone who's done environmental science might look at water
management, stuff like that. Because it's a final year, you get to choose the route
you want to go. You have complete flexibility of what you do. What projects you take on, what you look at.
[Oliver] We've just come back from Malta. It was a preliminary study for towards our dissertation.
So before we went out we conducted research on what we wanted to study in Malta.
Did you do that sort of thing before you went out to South Africa?
[Regina] For South Africa, before you go you're assigned your projects. So what you do is you have to read around
and produce a literature review. Which this year wasn't graded. So it's just to give you
an idea what's to come. What you're going to see and makes you aware of things, so you
don't go to South Africa not knowing anything about what you're seeing. So you have to do
pre-work before you go there. [Francesca] That sounds really interesting.
[Francesca] What's been your favourite module that you've done over the three years?
[Regina] I'll have to say the South Africa module because that's the only module where we didn't have any lectures.
It was the initial report that you submit before you go. We went to South Africa and you conducted
your own research, did your work and then you handed it in. In the second year we have
a module, Independent Study. I didn't do that, everything else has been taught to you, lecture, sit down.
But this one in South Africa there was no in class lecture. This one literally was,
do the report, this, this, this and this. It showed me that I can work off my own back.
It builds my independence, it teaches me how to research, how to analyse, how to write better.
And it was South Africa, amazing. How many people can get to say, I went to South Africa doing my degree? Do you know what I mean?
[Francesca] What are you hoping to do your dissertation on next year?
[Oliver] When I finish uni I the idea is to go into something to do with regeneration
schemes in promoting equality in communities. So, I thought it would be a good idea to conduct
a dissertation on something to guide me towards doing that. I'm looking at the extent to which
the community involvement is important in promoting a sustainable community.
I'm going to look at that in Plymouth because it has one of the highest regeneration rates in the UK.
[Francesca] Do you think everything you've studied so far has kind of really helped to build up a question?
[Oliver] Yeah, It's always something I've been interested in. I don't know why
but it has I always had an interest. My brother also studies Environment Economics and a lot of
that is to do with sustainability. So I've learned a lot from him which kind of guided
me to come to Kingston to conduct my course. I knew that a lot of the modules are guided
towards sustainable development and society like you mentioned. Which is obviously an
important aspect of community. We've just finished a module on town planning itself so that that
is very specific. But as well as that we've done modules in culture placed society, which
groups together the psychological aspects of geography. Before I came to uni to study
geography I don't think it was quite as clear from what you learn at A level, to what you are
going to learn at university level. There's quite a lot of psychology, especially in the geography aspect.
[Regina] Yeah, that was something that shocked me. I'm like isn't this something psychology...
[Oliver] Yeah but I enjoyed it. It's a different aspect, a very different take on geography
and the whole concept of space and place. [Francesca] It has definitely opened up areas that we
didn't actually realise were geography related at A level. Is there any aspects that either of you struggled with when you started uni?
[Oliver] Trying to get the hang of referencing. [Regina] Yeah, that was horrible.
But then again like the lecturers are helpful. You don't come to uni expecting to be perfect
at referencing in your first year. But we got a lecture in how to properly reference Harvard Style
so that helped it along. [Oliver] And referencing doesn't change once you have got the hang of it.
[Regina] The thing I like when it comes to the assessments is that it varies. It's not just
coursework and exams, you have oral presentations, you have the debates, producing posters and
stuff like that. I think all those things, I keep saying it again, you can take that with you.
It prepares you for the working world. You have to do oral presentations, you have to make posters,
you have to talk to people and I feel like the way they assess us,
it prepares us for the real world. [Francesca] I think as well, some of the work we've done has been
group work and you're put in groups. I know initially for me, I quite like to stay in
my comfort zone and working with people I don't know, I don' t like. But actually doing
the assessment really made me kind of step up. Because you've got to meet the other people
in terms of doing the work. Because when you're not sure how people work you've just got
to put in that little bit of an extra step and being pushed that little bit more which can be really beneficial.
[Francesca] I'd definitely recommend Kingston. I think the experience
I've had is one that enabled me, it sounds really cliche, but I feel like I've really blossomed.
I feel like not only have my skills in terms of education, but my writing has really developed
and it's given me opportunities and it's given me knowledge of jobs that I would have
otherwise had absolutely had no idea existed. I think a lot of that's to do with Kingston's position with London.
We're encouraged a lot to go into London and it just opened my eyes to
opportunities within what the university offers and how I can develop from there. Which I don't think I would have got from anywhere else.
[Regina] You don t just come here to get a degree,
you also learn valuable life skills. You meet great people and I've made some strong friends.
Like you said it took it takes you out of your comfort zone and puts you into the world.
You see things from different perspectives. The lecturers are amazing. You can build on
relationships with the lecturers, you can go to them to get feedback on your work and they help you.
[Francesca] I think that because there is just slightly less students than with bigger universities,
I feel as though I have had a place on the course and I feel that as an individual,
your input into the course and into your place at university is quite valued
and you are not just another number. You are actually a student and you're actually valued as an individual.
[Oliver] It's very community based. Not just the departments and within your lectures.
But as in the whole uni. Throughout the sports teams. I think for me, Kingston gave a fresh aspect of London.
It's like Regina said, it's that it's just away from Central
and I think that was a big positive for me on why I wanted to come to Kingston. The fact as well that
the module choices themselves throughout the whole three years of the course varied so much
and covered so many aspects, but were still specific. They were still specific in what
they were wanting to achieve in that in that module. I think having studied the course
and being in my second year now. I really think I've really benefitted from it.
[Francesca] Yeah, and I think most of all is the field trips. I just think the field trips have just absolutely made
the course for me. At the end of it having a different field trip every single year,
that's so drastic. Like Malta was so drastic compared to the one we did in the
first year and then progressing to South Africa was a really a fantastic opportunity.
[Regina] The aspects for me that also jumps out is like you mentioned, when you're in A level, you think.
What you gonna do? Geography? Oh, you gonna become a teacher? But actually you come to university
and you realise there is so much you can do with human geography that you didn't think
of when you was in high school or college you know what I mean? There's just so much
you can do. So I think coming to Kingston taking the Human Geography / Geography degree,
your options are endless. It's just you can apply it to anything.
[Oliver] It's opened a lot of doors and like you said, about promoting London to the students in Kingston. It has also has
opened a lot of doors with employment and things. There's a lot of links through Kingston.
[Regina] Yeah. We recently did a project with Kingston Town Centre Regeneration Scheme. So you actually
get to work with the local council. They actually offered us work placements so that's a bonus!
[Francesca] The lecturers are always really keen to help you. I know I've been a couple of times to
ask about work experience and it does feel as though they want to help you every step of
the way to ensure that you get exactly where you want to be. It feels like they really
want to support you through all aspects not only when you finish the course. That's good.