Course description
Course description
The BA in Town & Country Planning (BTCP) is a three-year degree providing you with basic academic and professional training in town planning. The curriculum is the same as for the four-year undergraduate masters in Town and Country Planning (MTCP) offered by our School, but students finish their degree after three years. At the end of the third year you may choose to continue to Masters level if you wish. The programme covers a wide range of subject areas and uses a diversity of teaching and learning methods involving individual self-learning and groups. The first year of the degree is in common with all other undergraduate programmes in Planning and Landscape and you may choose to switch to any of these programmes at the end of the first year if you wish.
Special features
You can switch to another programme in Planning and Landscape at the end of your first year if you wish.
You can select a free choice option from across the entire University in your second year (e.g. a language).
Field trips in the UK and overseas in the second and third year.
Course content for year 1
The first year gives a broad introduction to the environment from the point of view of planning and management, and you are given a flavour of the sorts of problems and issues faced by professionals dealing with the planning and management of all aspects of our built and natural environments. You examine social, economic, ecological and design aspects of the environment, and learn about gathering, analysing and presenting information. You also become more familiar with using computers to aid your work in the environmental field. The core course for planners during this year is centred around the history and development of planning and urban design.
All Planning and Landscape undergraduates share the first year and on completion students can switch programmes, if they wish, to any of the possible degree programmes that can be awarded after three or four years of study. Transfer from a Bachelor to a Master programme depends on the level of performance in the year, but the vast majority of our students achieve the required level for such a transfer.
Course content for year 2
In the second year you begin to specialise more in town planning itself. You take courses on plan-making and procedures, and apply your knowledge in case studies and practicals. You also get the chance to select a free choice option from across the entire University. You may for instance wish to study a language in order subsequently to take up the opportunity to study for part of your degree at one of our partner institutions overseas. There is also a field course to a rural area within the UK.
Course content for year 3
Your third year is where you begin to develop more specialist knowledge. All course units are compulsory but you can build upon your chosen specialism by choosing an appropriate topic for your 12,000 word dissertation. Students with an interest in urban design can produce a design study as an alternative. The third year also usually includes a field trip to study planning policies and practice in another country. You may choose to continue on to a fourth year of study and gain an undergraduate masters in Town and Country Planning (MTCP), with full accreditation by the Royal Town Planning Institute.
Career opportunities
Students graduating from within Planning and Landscape are popular with a wide range of employers. In recent years a growing numbers of graduates have found jobs in other public services or in business, where an ability to analyse and propose policies and implement strategies is vital and where a wide variety of generic management and communication skills is appreciated.
BA graduates similarly find that a degree from Planning and Landscape makes them eminently employable, offering skills from a discipline requiring them to apply their knowledge to solve problems and develop opportunities, now and in the future. The transferable skills you develop in strategic thinking, teamwork, creativity and communication are exactly what most employers are seeking in almost any area in which you may subsequently decide to develop your career.
