The BSP hosts its first MSc Summer School

The Bartlett School of Planning has hosted its first ever Summer School for prospective MSc students. Held from 2-5 June 2014 at UCL, the Summer School offered an introduction to the discipline and a sense of the content and delivery of four MSc programmes: Housing Development, Spatial Planning, Transport and City Planning and Urban Regeneration. The 27 students attending the four day taster course experienced lectures, group project work, a site visit to East London and received a talk from four previous graduates from the School on career options in the field.

The Summer School was funded via a grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) as part of a pilot project to widen participation in postgraduate education, the first time the government has funded work in this area. This funding has also supported 14 full fees bursaries and costs of living grants for students applying to study on one of four MSc programmes at the Bartlett School of Planning from September 2014.

Applications for this funding are still being taken until 30 June 2014 and further details are available on the UCL scholarships and funding page.

Dr Ben Clifford, the School’s MSc Tutor, said “We received excellent feedback from those attending the Summer School on how valuable they found it in helping introduce them to our courses and the options available to them if they come to study a Master’s degree here.

We are very keen to widen participation in our programmes. Evidence shows the cost of a Master’s degree is a key barrier but with the generous bursaries available, we hope a diverse range of students can join us this September. An accredited postgraduate degree course makes a huge difference to the career prospects of people working in the exciting and important field so it is great to be able to provide more support at this level.”