Mission

Responsibilities

The Graduate School of Geosciences offers a wide range of challenging Master’s and PhD programmes in the fields of Earth Sciences, Physical Geography, Human Geography and Planning, and Sustainable Development. The Graduate School is especially responsible for:

  • the organisation and coordination of teaching in the Master’s and PhD programmes;

  • the quality assurance of Master’s programmes and PhD programmes (training).

Mission

The mission of the GSG is to deliver outstanding independent professionals in the field of Geosciences. These professionals will be familiar with the latest developments in their scientific field, and able to develop this field further, based on scientific and socially relevant knowledge and questions.

Strategic aims

The Graduate School of Geosciences has four strategic aims: 

  1. offer graduate programmes at Master’s and PhD levels that are well embedded in the main scientific debates in the scientific fields that are covered by the Faculty of Geosciences; that encourage students and PhD candidates to go beyond the state-of-the-art; in which education and research go hand in hand; that are internationally oriented; that are flexible in stimulating disciplinary (depth) and interdisciplinary (breadth) orientation; that are related to the strategic themes of Utrecht University; and that are connected to societal challenges at global, national, regional and local levels;
  2. provide a stimulating and safe academic environment for students and PhD candidates that fosters the development of professional competences with a distinct profile tailored to the student’s or PhD candidate’s needs and talents;
  3. offer inspiring and state-of-the-art teaching and supervision by a qualified team that actively and effectively facilitates academic and personal growth;
  4. tailor education and training in the doctoral and master phase to the needs of the labour market, both within academia and in professional organisations.