- UCAS course code
- K401
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Master of Planning (MPlan)
MPlan Planning
Make a difference with an integrated Master of Planning, shaping vibrant, liveable, sustainable places for communities to live, work and play.
- Typical A-level offer: ABB
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBC
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 34 points overall with 6,5,5 at HL
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,250 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,000 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Additional expenses
This course has normally included an overseas field trip in year 4, which is an optional part of the course. Please note there is a student contribution towards the cost of the trip depending on the location.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
We are committed to attracting and supporting the very best students from all backgrounds to study this course.
You could be eligible for cash bursaries of up to £2,500 to support your studies.
Find out about our funding opportunities
Course unit details:
Professional Placement
Unit code | PLAN20090 |
---|---|
Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 2 |
Teaching period(s) | Full year |
Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
The professional placement unit is interdisciplinary in that it brings together learners from planning, real estate, and environmental management. The unit enables students to gain practical work experience within their chosen specialism through their securing of unpaid work experience within a firm/s from within either the UK or a foreign country. The unit provides students with an understanding of the demands of applying for work, the practicalities and experience of undertaking professional work, enables them to reflect on their present strengths and weaknesses with regards to skills needed for the work place and how to improve to same, facilitates networking opportunities, and encourages them to consider how a placement can assist them in gaining the core competencies required for their subsequent individual professional accreditation. Through lectures, workshops, tutorials, the successful completion of a placement, and assessed assignments, students develop a range of intellectual, practical, and transferable skills that are pertinent to their longer-term securing of graduate employment.
Aims
1. Enable students to explore the professional world of students’ specialism - environmental management, planning, real estate.
2. Enable students to undertake practical work in the field with an employer in their specialism.
3. Enable students to develop specialised knowledge within a specific area of environmental management or planning or real estate practice through the successful undertaking of a placement.
4. Enable students to gain specialised skills appropriate in their chosen specialism.
5. Enable students to gain personal transferable skills in the world of work.
Learning outcomes
The intended learning outcomes of this module are directly focused on employability skills (the module involves securing employment via a professional work place placement).
Students develop practical experience of searching for jobs, applying for jobs tailoring their existent skills to advertised jobs, reflecting upon existent skill-gaps and addressing how to improve them so as to make themselves more employable. In addition, students gain experience of networking, self promotion, interview skills, and employability… by being employed on a placement.
All of these aspects in turn equip students with foundational skills for chartered membership of their chosen professional bodies.
Students should be able to:
Syllabus
Teaching and learning methods
The unit adopts a blended learning environment which utilises face-to-face teaching methods (lectures, workshops, guest networking opportunities, and tutorials), supported by pre-prepared/recorded materials and supplemented by material focussing on specific professional competencies as well as job vacancies which are, as appropriate, uploaded onto VLE or emailed directly to the unit’s cohort.
1.Face-to-face lectures address core skills/ideas pertaining to finding and securing a placement, as well as how work experience addresses and enhances employability skills. Practical advice and small-group work in class also gives hands-on experience in identifying good/bad CV practice etc.
2. Individual (formative) oral feedback in class and via office hours (and via careers service)
Individual feedback will be offered to students on an ad-hoc basis to support the development of their assignments via in-class and office hour drop-in sessions.
Where students have successful completed the ‘online CV checker’ from the careers service they can also request personal meetings where additional oral feedback is given.
3. Individual (formative) written feedback via office hours and submission of draft CVs/letters of application
Where students request comments on individual aspects of their CVs/letters of application this will be given via written feedback. This s supplemented by their online use of various careers service tools in the initial drafting of CVs.
4. Online information/evidence repository
The unit’s VLE will hold a repository of professional competencies as well as job opportunities as they become advertised. The latter will also be emailed directly to the unit’s cohort. Where video data is uploaded by potential firms/practitioners seeking placement students such data will be available via VLE.
5.The successful undertaking of a professional placement.
Knowledge and understanding
Gain knowledge and experience of their relevant professional discipline within a professional setting through the completion of an unpaid work placement with a firm in their chosen specialism.
Intellectual skills
Undertake a programme of work set by a client provider organisation.
Critically analyse the placement organisation and provide a clear synthesis of strengths and weaknesses with recommendations.
Critically reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of their existent skill set with regard to how these are relevant to the world of professional work
Practical skills
Effectively communicate their own strengths and weaknesses based on lessons learned whilst undertaking the placement and how these build upon experiences gained in university
Employ teamwork and collaboration whilst undertaking placement
Transferable skills and personal qualities
Work effectively with a range of other personnel in the workplace.
Write a detailed personal evaluation reflecting on the experience and present evidence of achievements.
Employability skills
- Analytical skills
- You will gain a range of employability skills during your placement Other skills gained will depend on the type of organisation you work with and the activities that you engage in during your time with organisation.
- Group/team working
- Innovation/creativity
- Oral communication
- Problem solving
- Research
Assessment methods
Placement Reflection Report - 3000 words (100%)
Feedback methods
We will provide formative feedback through advice at the key stages throughout the course unit and during the placement. Summative feedback will be provided where this contributes to your overall mark.
Recommended reading
Indicative Reading List
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kolb, D. A., & Fry, R. (1975). Toward an applied theory of experiential learning. In C. Cooper (Ed.), Studies of group process (pp. 33–57). New York: Wiley.
Kolb, D. A., Rubin, I. M., & McIntyre, J. M. (1984). Organizational psychology: readings on human behavior in organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
---|---|
Lectures | 12 |
Tutorials | 3 |
Placement hours | |
---|---|
Placement | 140 |
Independent study hours | |
---|---|
Independent study | 45 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
---|---|
Bertie Dockerill | Unit coordinator |