The introduction of the two-year MCD marked the start of postgraduate planning education in Britain and it is now 70 years since the first cohort of planners graduated from the MCD programme. However, the MCD continues to develop and respond to the changing demands of spatial planning and evolving global issues including climate change. We also retain continuity by offering this highly regarded Master’s conversion course which provides employer’s with ‘practice ready’ graduates to meet the current demand for planning professionals across all sectors.
The MCD taught programme is fully accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute and introduces students to the essential aspects of town and regional planning. Since 2004, the ‘new’ version of the MCD as a one-year conversion course has remained popular with students from a diversity of backgrounds. However, at a time when there is a recognised shortage of planners across the public and private sectors, the two-year, part-time MCD also remains popular with employers and students across the north-west region and further afield. The Spatial Planning pathway is intended for students with an undergraduate degree in one of a range of disciplines cognate to planning, such as geography, sociology, environmental studies or politics; or for part-time students working in planning practice.
The MCD also continues to undergo exciting developments. In addition to the ‘traditional’ MCD in Spatial Planning, from 2023/24 we will be offering an MCD in Urban Design. This new variant of the MCD will provide students with the opportunity to study an RTPI-accredited Masters’ programme with a specific orientation to the practice of urban design.
In keeping with tradition, the Course Director role continues to be undertaken by the Lever Professor, currently Professor Alex Lord, who maintains the tradition of engaging in finding solutions to the major planning solutions of our time. Alex is also supported by a team of 16 planning academics with a wide range of research interests and international perspectives, ensuring that the programme will remain at the forefront of planning education for the next 70 years and beyond.
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