Course description
Duration
This is an intensive nine month Diploma courses and twelve month MSc. The course is also offered as a two year part-time option with modules available one day per week. A developing countries route is offered to students wishing to specialise in sustainable planning in a global context.
Overview
This postgraduate course equips students with the knowledge and skills they need to work as professional planners. The MSc gives full exemption from all the educational requirements of the Royal Town Planning Institute. On completion most students find employment in planning, though this can be in a multitude of jobs and with a variety of employers – in local government, central government, development agencies and private sector consultants.
The full-time course is recognised by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) under its Postgraduate Students Allowance Scheme. This means that a number of entrants normally resident in Scotland, and without any prior postgraduate qualification, may be eligible for a means-tested grant plus full payment of all approved fees by the SAAS. Students from elsewhere in the UK may be eligible for an award from their Local Education Authority or, in the case of Northern Ireland, from their Local Education and Library Board. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has announced that the course is to be allocated 12 ESRC level bursaries for the above course. These will be offered on the basis of ESRC criteria.
The course has been structured around these three core project-based modules:
* The Strategic Spatial Vision Project
* The Development Evaluation Project
* The Community Planning Project
These projects are supported by core taught modules. In addition, the course offers four specialisms:
1. Environmental policy and management
2. Housing and regeneration
3. Sustainable planning in a global context (part of the developing countries route)
4. Land and property markets
These are introduced in the core modules and then developed in the relevant specialist options. The course also places importance on the preparation of a personal development plan (PDP) which links the learning experience to wider skills and the employability of each student. The PDP is therefore seen as an integral part of the course.
Term 1
Strategic Spatial Vision Project; Principles, Theories & Ethics of Planning; Design & Development; Current Planning; Practice/Development & Environment in Developing Countries.
Term 2
Development Evaluation Project; Planning Policy, Law & Implementation; Specialist Option; Specialist Option.
Term 3
Community Planning Project; Governance & Participation; Planning Management 1.
Term 4
Dissertation.
