About Planning And Sustainable Development in University College Cork

The Master’s Degree in Planning and Sustainable Development (MPlan) is an internationally-recognised, professionally-accredited master’s course in spatial planning and development for cities, regions, towns, rural areas, and neighbourhoods. 

As chartered professionals, MPlan graduates tackle real-world sustainability and environmental challenges in public, private and community settings throughout the world. :

The MPlan is a comprehensive, two-year course compatible with European standards and with international professional training models for planning. Our graduates come from many different disciplines, so our course offers a rich learning environment for people to fine-tune their areas of interest into a practical, ethical and effective field of action with relevance in the contemporary world.

The degree, which has a strong theoretical and ethical foundation, develops a wide range of skills and abilities leading to a strong capacity for making real-world, imaginative and balanced proposals and recommendations about the future of places. 

Having graduated from the MPlan course you will be able to make a genuine and enduring contribution to society. The course content and learning progression of the MPlan has been designed around the professional accreditation requirements of the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Irish Planning Institute.

Modules will cover topics including:

• place-making and design
• community engagement
• spatial planning at various different scales
• environmental awareness
• development and growth in rural and urban areas
• legal and political know-how
• technical competence and a deep understanding of the realities of sustainable development.

Why Choose This Course

The MPlan at  UCC is known for the high quality of its graduates and its broad-based approach to learning. With a core teaching team of experienced professional planners, the course sits at the meeting point between the rigour of academic thought and effectiveness of real-world practice. It has an international focus (with two study visits outside of Ireland) and a disciplinary ethos which strddles the physical sciences, the social sciences and the humanities.  This makes it especially interesting for English-speaking graduates from North America, Asia and from the global South who are interested in furthering their education in a progressive European university.

Skills and Careers Information

As the programme is a professional masters and fully accredited by the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), the most usual employment for graduates is in the planning industry. Traditionally conducted within the public sector at all levels of government, planning is now carried out in a wide variety of professional environments across the public and private sectors and across the housing, transportation, environment, retail, energy, heritage sectors. The accreditation from the RTPI is internationally recognised and many of our graduates have found work across the globe. Students graduate with a range of skills which include creative problem solving, environmental evaluation, analytical and research skills, policy development, physical planning, community engagement, teamwork and design techniques and appreciation. This applied skill set is particularly attractive to the public sector, businesses and third sector employment situations.

Occupations associated with an MPlan degree:

Planning:

• Working in central/regional/local government preparing spatial plans, managing development, protecting our heritage and countryside, working with communities and delivering regeneration;
• Working in a planning/design consultancy, preparing development proposals, advising clients and assessing environmental impacts;
• Working for yourself in your own planning consultancy.

Other environmentally based occupations:

• Working with the third sector, promoting sustainability and regeneration, supporting essential development in the third world and campaigning to raise awareness of the importance of jobs, communities and places;
• Working in transport, housing, recycling, property development, energy, community development and economic development.

Research and further studies:

• Working for a PhD, teaching and academic research;
• Carrying out environmental and property research.

Unlike most postgraduate options, an MPlan qualification leads directly to a professional career in planning or related fields. The M.Plan has an extremely strong reputation in Ireland and abroad for the quality of their graduates and this is reflected in their employment rates and early career progress. Demand for planners is increasing rapidly in Ireland and across the globe. The President of the Irish Planning Institute announced at the 2015 National Conference that recent research had indicated that in the light of the upturn in the economy there is likely to be a shortage of planners in Ireland. In addition, the M.Plan team have developed strong relationships with employers and specialist planning recruitment agencies which has helped secure positions for graduates of the programme.

Academic qualification equivalents

• Applicants should have an honours degree in a related subject.
• Indian applicants will normally be required to achieve a first class/first division mark in their undergraduate programme at a good institution of higher education in India. At the discretion of academic departments, students with degrees awarded by top universities such as the University of Mumbai, University of Delhi, University of Calcutta, and the University of Pune, may be accepted with high second class/high second division marks. 

English language requirements (one of the below):

• IELTS: 6.5  Minimum individual sections 5.5
• TOEFL: TOEFL 90  Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing 17
• PTE: 63 Minimum individual sections 51

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