Course Outline
The Postgraduate Diploma in Planning and Sustainable Development is an introductory graduate level course in spatial planning and development for cities, regions, towns, rural areas, and neighbourhoods. It has an international flavour and exposes students to the kind of real-world sustainability and environmental challenges that are found in public, private and community settings throughout the world.
Our graduate students 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. For students who perform well on this course and wish to progress to a professionally recognised masters level qualification there is an option to transfer to the second year of the UCC M.Plan course which is a comprehensive, two-year course compatible with European standards and with international professional training models for planning.
The course will be of particular interest to students from developing countries who want to gain a foundation training in Planning and Sustainable Development as well as other international students who have a particular interest in studying in Ireland and have a wider interest in the theory and practice of planning. Students who do not feel able or ready to commit to two years study for the accredited qualification will find that the Course is an excellent way to gain a foundation qualification and fully assess their motivation to progress to the second year of the accredited MPlan Course.
Why Choose This Course
The UCC Centre for Planning Education and Research is known for the high quality of its graduates and its broad-based approach to learning. This Diploma is ideal for early- or mid- career students who have a personal or career interest and engagement in this subject area but are not in a position to commit to a full two-year master's programme. With an international focus and a disciplinary ethos which straddles the physical sciences, the social sciences and the humanities, it is a course that is also suitable 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.
Who teaches this course?
The core of this course is taught by the full-time and part-time staff of the UCC Centre for Planning Education and Research (which is a full member of Association of European Schools of Planning) and by lecturers from the UCC Departments of Law, Applied Social Studies and Sociology. They are also assisted by visiting specialist lecturers for different subjects as required.