This course is accredited by the following professional bodies:

• Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)

We have been running professionally accredited planning education courses at LSBU successfully for over 40 years. This MA is aimed at graduates from a variety of disciplines who are looking to pursue a worthwhile and challenging course that can lead into an exciting and stable career in spatial planning and related fields.

The course includes a compulsory one week residential European field study visit. For all new entrants from September 2012, field study visit fees are included in the tuition fees.

Watch our postgraduate courses video.

Study hours

Year one class contact time for full time students is typically 9 hours per week supplemented by study visits, tutorials and independent study

Brief assessment outline

Modules are assessed by a range of coursework including: essays, professional style reports, design and practice based projects seen exams, presentations and a dissertation.

Course modules

Award

• 3 modules = PGCert
• 6 modules = PGDip
• 6 modules + dissertation = MA

Year 1

• Planning history and theory
• Planning law and practice
• Sustainable places (with EU field study visit)
• Development and regeneration
• Urban design - the heart of planning

One specialist module from:

• Neighbourhood management and renewal, or, housing and urban development (housing specialism)
• Urban design project (urban design specialism)
• Urban regeneration strategies and projects (urban regeneration specialism)
• Environment and resource management, or, Transport, society and planning (environment specialism)
• Plus the Dissertation for the MA award

Part-time mode is taught one-day-per-week, with one or two modules being taught in each semester; plus the dissertation being completed by the end of January in the third year.

Employability and academic progression

Employment prospects are excellent especially in London and the South East of England. Successful planning students may find jobs in central government, local government, non-governmental organisations, housing associations and quangos. Given our extensive links with public, private and voluntary sector employers we often find that employers often approach us first seeking suitably qualified and motivated applicants.

A significant proportion of our graduates are taken on by public sector bodies and by by private planning consultancies in planning, property, utilities companies, the transport sector, and in the property sections of large PLCs, such as the major retailers.

LSBU is committed to supporting you develop your employability and succeed in getting a job after you have graduated. Your qualification will certainly help, but in a competitive market you also need to work on your employability, and on your career search. Our Employability Service will support you in developing your skills, finding a job, interview techniques, work experience or an internship, and will help you assess what you need to do to get the job you want at the end of your course. LSBU offers a comprehensive Employability Service, with a range of initiatives to complement your studies, including:

• direct engagement from employers who come in to interview and talk to students
• Job Shop and on-campus recruitment agencies to help your job search
• mentoring and work shadowing schemes.

Professional and industry links

The MA is fully accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute. This means that after graduation students can become licentiate members of the RTPI. With two years relevant work experience (in some cases one year) graduates can apply to take the RTPI Assessment of Professional Competence exam and become full members of the RTPI.

We have extensive links with planning and private sectors with visiting speakers delivering presentations at LSBU and during field study visits and project visits. Practitioners also provide valuable inputs through a short lecture series.

Recent guest lecturers:

• David Waterhouse, Department of Communities and Local Government;
• Brian O'Callaghan, Royal Town Planning Institute;
• Micheal Pyner, Shoreditch Trust;
• Matthew Townend St James Homes;
• Catherine Croft 20th Century Society:
• Jon Grantham, Land Use Consultants.