Coordinator: dr. W.J. Meester
The one-year Master’s programme in
Economic Geography
(Dutch language) includes the theory and applications of economic geography as well as related courses such as spatial economics, spatial market research, regional labour market analysis and firm demography. Key themes in this programme are the spatial organization of firms and their labour markets, and spatial-economic policies. In addition, students may select related courses within the university according to their own interests, such as city and regional marketing.
Students with a Bachelor’s degree in
Human Geography and Planning
can unconditionally enter this Master’s programme. Students with another Bachelor’s degree, such as
Economics
or
Business Management
, need to first follow the half-year
Economy and Space
Minor programme.
Economic geography is a dynamic and challenging area of study concerning companies’ location choice and the economic development of countries, regions, cities and towns. It is not only an elaboration of the theoretical knowledge gained from the Bachelor’s phase. Theories on location choice and economic development find a broad application in the practice of company policy and spatial development policy at various levels. Insight concerning the role of land prices, movement and transport, infrastructure and the labour market play a significant role. However, besides the ‘hard’ factors, ‘soft’ factors are also very important, such as the image and the identity of companies and regions, and the functioning of institutions and networks. Economic geography is pre-eminently an area of expertise where all these influences can be studied in an integrated framework.
Bachelor’s degrees in
Human Geography and Planning, Economy, Business Administration, Political Economy
and
Sociology
give access to this Master’s programme. With the exception of
Human Geography and Planning
, students will also need to follow the
Economy and Space
(30 ECTS) Minor programme in their last undergraduate year. Student’s holding other Bachelor’s degrees should contact the programme coordinator. In such cases the need to follow an intake programme will have to be taken into account.
Intake programmes are also necessary for students with HBO diplomas. The relevant intake programme required will be based on the scope and content of the HBO programmes in question. In most cases intake programmes will comprise 60 ECTS (a full year).
Economic geography is one of the relatively small number of geographical specializations explicitly mentioned in staff advertisements because the economic affairs policy departments of large municipalities, provinces and ministries employ large numbers of economic geographers.
However, as the faculty guide informs us, graduates in economic geography work within a very broad spectrum of professions, approximately equally divided between businesses and government. Examples of the jobs open to economic geographers are:
-
researcher
-
consultant
-
government policy official at a ministry, province or large municipality
-
policy employee at a semi-governmental organization such as the Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel)
-
policy employee at a large company, such as a retail firm, transport company or bank
-
executive in the field of research, consulting and policy
-
PhD student
-
university teacher, university researcher
The concrete content of the activities of an economic geographer depend on the type of agency or company worked for, meaning that it is possible that – as is true for most academic studies – the field of work can be diverse.
However, whether it be research, policymaking or a boardroom position at the global or local level, the relationship between a company and its surroundings will often be a central issue. Location availability, infrastructure, movement and transport, training and labour market, spatial-economic policy and spatial investments are points of relevance in this context. The Master’s programme in
Economic Geography
opens an interesting professional field for students interested in labour market perspectives for socially involved work at the interface between economics and spatial discoveries.
