Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning
Online
DURATION
4 up to 10 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Feb 2025
TUITION FEES
AUD 30,200 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning, On-Campus
* international students fees. contact the university for domestic students tuition fees
Key Summary
Introduction
Urban and regional planners develop strategies and design communities in which we all live, work and play. Planning helps balance community, environmental and economic needs, while recognising cultural significance in order to improve our quality of life and create sustainable and vital communities. Our Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning provides you with the necessary knowledge and skills to critically analyse and solve complex problems — skills that help you adapt as a professional in a changing world.
Why study the Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning with UNE?
Our course offers a balance of theory and practice — we focus on you being able to integrate your academic knowledge into the real world. You will gain the knowledge and skills that planners need to solve a wide range of important social and environmental issues. You will learn to think critically to analyse competing priorities, to solve complex problems, to strategise, and to communicate effectively as a planning professional with a wide range of audiences.
UNE’s Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning includes hands-on, industry-based work experience. You will get a broad, thorough understanding of design and planning in urban and regional contexts, across a range of major areas: land use; social and economic issues; transport; professionalism and ethics; environmental and planning law.
The skills you will learn are valued and transferable across many professional contexts, in both the public and private sectors. With these skills you will be boosting your fitness for your future career, while also working towards a more liveable, more sustainable world and helping communities work and thrive.
Our Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning is fully accredited with the Planning Institute of Australia.
Each year, more planners graduate from UNE than any other Australian university. We have been the leading innovator of flexible study for over 60 years because we are committed to helping busy adults: you can study from anywhere.
What makes our course different?
Our Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning is structured to provide you with a wide breadth of knowledge and skills that balance theory with real-world contexts. You will get a broad, thorough understanding of design and planning in urban and regional contexts, across a range of major areas: land use; social and economic issues; transport; professionalism and ethics; and environmental and planning law.
You will also get to:
- Gain practical experience and work on planning projects, informed by on-the-job practice, as part of your assessment.
- Choose to study full time or part time, either on-campus in Armidale, or fully online with the flexibility to suit your lifestyle.
- Complete your course in four years (full-time) or up to ten years (part-time).
By choosing UNE, you will be studying with an industry leader in the provision of online lifelong learning. Year after year, students award us the maximum 5-star ratings for Overall Experience and Student Support in The Good Universities Guide.
Study online
Most of our students choose to study online across three study periods with 24/7 tutor support* and fit study around work and family commitments. Uniquely, our online students are mostly over 30 and bring valuable experience with them. They form a community of adults juggling the same challenges and priorities and who bring their life and work experience together at UNE in order to become future-fit and better respond to a rapidly changing world.
Study on campus
Many of our students choose to take advantage of the on-campus lifestyle in Armidale, in the beautiful New England region, with access to unparalleled support, accommodation and sporting facilities. These students are often starting their first degree and have left school recently. Through access to academic and career support they get a fantastic start to their careers.
24/7 tutor support includes: essay feedback (within 24 hours); live chat 24/7 for generic feedback on academic writing; and subject-specific help at a foundation or first-year level for subjects including mathematics, chemistry, biology, physics, business, accounting, microeconomics, macroeconomics and statistics. There are also a wide range of workshops, resources and courses available in academic skills support to assist you and help you to succeed.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
UNE offers bursaries and scholarships that can help you with the costs of studying and living in Australia.
The UNE International Bursary reduces the published annual tuition fees for international students by up to 30%. These bursaries are available for international students commencing coursework studies at UNE in 2023.
We currently are offering a 20% Bursary for the 2024 intake.
UNE also offers a number of substantial research scholarships to postgraduate students studying for research-based degrees.
View detailed Bursary information.
Curriculum
Course structure
To qualify for the award a candidate must pass units to the value of 192 credit points with not more than 48 credit points at 100-level and 102 credit points at 200/300-level and 12 credit points at 400-level and 12 weeks Practical Experience.
Core Units
144 credit points
Complete the following units:
- Professional Archaeology and Heritage Management (ARPA320)
- Introduction to GIS and Spatial Thinking (GISC334)
- Local Environmental Infrastructure (ENGT237)
- Earth in Crisis? (GEPL111)
- Where in the World? Australia's Human Geography (GEPL112)
- Introduction to Planning History and Theory (GEPL121)
- Introduction to Plan Making (GEPL122)
- Planning for Land Use and Built Form (GEPL124)
- Climate Change and Future Planning (GEPL307)
- Catchment to Coast (GEPL311)
- Urban Living (GEPL316)
- Principles of Development Control (GEPL320)
- Cradle to Grave: Population Geography (GEPL322)
- Rural Planning and Resource Management (GEPL324)
- Planning Theory and Practice (GEPL328)
- Environmental Planning and Administration (GEPL335)
- Understanding Research (GEPL338)
- Introduction to Architectural Design (GEPL359)
- Community Planning and Participation (GEPL361)
- Place-making for People and the Environment (GEPL370)
- Economic Change and Urban Development (GEPL401)
- Architecture and Urban Design (GEPL402)
- Regional Development: Processes and Policies (GEPL445)
- Transport and Land Use Planning (GEPL450)
Candidates NOT wishing to complete the Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning with Honours
48 credit points
Complete the following unit twice:
- Integrated Planning Practice (GEPL466)
Candidates wishing to complete the Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning with Honours
48 credit points
Complete the following unit:
- Dissertation (GEPL455) – 48 credit points
Practical Experience
All candidates: Complete 12 weeks of Practical Experience as approved by the school.
- Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning Practical Experience (PRACBURP) – 0 credit points
Program Outcome
- BUrbRegPlan students: demonstrate a broad and coherent body of knowledge in urban and regional planning, including deep understanding of the discipline's underlying principles and concepts;
- Demonstrate cognitive, critical and technical skills to analyse and address land-use and built-environment problems in a range of social, economic and environmental contexts;
- Demonstrate knowledge and skills to exercise the judgement and responsibility required of a professional planner in the governance of diverse urban and regional contexts; and
- Demonstrate initiative in solving planning problems, capacity to work independently and collaboratively, and ability to consolidate and communicate information via written, oral and graphical forms.
- BUrbRegPlan with Honours students: demonstrate a broad and coherent body of knowledge in urban and regional planning, including deep understanding of the discipline's underlying principles and concepts;
- Demonstrate cognitive, critical and technical skills to analyse and address land-use and built-environment problems in a range of social, economic and environmental contexts;
- Demonstrate knowledge and skills to exercise the judgement and responsibility required of a professional planner in the governance of diverse urban and regional contexts;
- Demonstrate initiative in solving planning problems, capacity to work independently and collaboratively, and ability to consolidate and communicate information via written, oral and graphical forms;
- Undertake independent research under supervision in a professional environment by: critically analysing a challenging complex or multi-faceted problem, identifying and articulating research questions, designing and planning a project in urban and regional planning; developing and constructing appropriate research methodology to address a research question; and analysing, interpreting and critically evaluating research findings;
- Be communicators of urban and regional planning by communicating ideas and research findings to a range of audiences using a variety of written and oral communication modes; and
- Be accountable for their own learning and professional work by: demonstrating initiative and intellectual independence; collaborating effectively within a research environment; and complying with regulatory frameworks and practising professional ethics relevant to their disciplinary area.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
You will be qualified to work in planning offices in federal, state and local government, private consulting firms and property development companies. Your career opportunities include positions in:
- urban design and place-making
- regional and rural planning
- development assessment and land use
- environmental planning and natural resource management
- social and community-based planning
- heritage and conservation.