History of the Department

The beginnings of higher geographic education in Banská Bystrica can be traced back to the academic year 1949/1950, when a consultation center of the Faculty of Education of the Slovak University in Bratislava was established in Banská Bystrica for supplementary and distance studies of geography teachers. The Department of Geography was founded in 1954 at the Higher Pedagogical School. It focused on the preparation and training of qualified teachers. For twenty-eight years (1964–1992), it was part of the Faculty of Education and served as an institution attended by students not only from Central Slovakia but also from other regions. Since 1992, the Department of Geography has been part of the Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences at Matej Bel University (UMB), and since 1995, it has belonged to the Faculty of Natural Sciences at UMB. The department has expanded its activities in education, science, and research to include geology and geographic information systems (GIS).

Study Programs

The teaching and research staff of the department focus on the preparation of qualified professionals in the following study programs (SP):

• Teaching of Geography in combination (Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees),

• Geopotential of Regions (Bachelor’s degree),

• Applied Geosciences (Master’s degree), and

• Geochemistry (PhD).

The Teaching of Geography program covers various disciplines of physical, human, and regional geography as well as geography didactics. Field exercises and excursions in Slovakia and abroad are an integral part of the educational process. Geography is offered in combination with another subject of either natural science or humanities orientation. Graduates of this program are qualified to teach at primary and secondary schools.

The Geopotential of Regions program offers a unique combination of knowledge in geography and geology, providing graduates with broader career opportunities. This program is not offered in the same form at any other higher education institution in Slovakia. In addition to theoretical knowledge of abiotic, biotic, and anthropogenic geospheres, students acquire practical skills through fieldwork and laboratory exercises.

The Applied Geosciences program focuses on understanding processes occurring in the contact zone between the Earth’s crust and the surface during the so-called “young geology” period — from the late Neogene to the Quaternary. The program’s structure is designed to enable graduates to use a wide range of methods and tools for acquiring, analyzing, synthesizing, interpreting, and presenting geospatial data as research outputs, thus providing them with broad employment opportunities in practice.

The Doctoral program in Geochemistry develops knowledge in both basic and applied research in the fields of endogenous and exogenous (environmental) geochemistry. The program focuses on mastering methodological procedures for data collection in the laboratory and in the field, as well as on data processing using modern statistical methods and GIS tools. Graduates are proficient in all methods of geochemical research, particularly in studying interactions between abiotic and biotic components of the environment. They can find employment in research institutions focused on geology, as well as in environmental research centers such as universities, research organizations, geochemical and analytical laboratories specializing in the analysis of geological and environmental samples. Due to their broad expertise, graduates also have significant opportunities in the commercial sector — for example, in water resource exploration and monitoring, mineral resource assessment, geological and environmental consulting, and expert activities.