Planning is a dynamic activity that impinges on many aspects of everyday life in metropolitan and rural areas. Planning as a general term can mean an activity that seeks to provide an alternative to uncoordinated and ad hoc decision-making. For cities, suburbs and regions, planning targets the development, improvement, conservation and general management of the environment. There are in fact many specialist areas of planning: land use, social, transport, regional, and so on.

The GradCertPlan degree addresses many of these aspects. Core courses cover skill and knowledge areas essential for practising planners.
The programs are available to suitably qualified local and international students and provide opportunities for full-time or part-time study.

Career Opportunities
Planners are employed under many different labels in many different organisations with some stake in the built environment. The major employment sectors are state and federal government departments (dealing with land use, development, transport, heritage, infrastructure, urban services etc), local councils, consultant planners, property companies, and environmental organisations. There is an increasing demand for planners and other built environment professionals with appropriate knowledge and skills that the Program offers.

The new Program aims to produce high quality graduates who have acquired UNSW Graduate attributes. Graduates will be capable, through their skills, knowledge and experience, of undertaking a wide range of tasks in the planning field and may also choose to proceed to the GradDipPlan degree.

The GradCertPlan Program is taken over one academic session (full-time equivalent), and requires the successful completion of 4 courses totalling 24 units of credit. The 24uoc in the Program comprise four core courses.

The GradCertPlan Program is part of an articulated coursework Planning degree. That is, students may elect to enrol in the Graduate Certificate in Planning (24uoc), consisting of at least four core courses (24uoc), and progress to the Graduate Diploma in Planning (48uoc), consisting of the remaining core courses and one elective if required, or the MPlan (72uoc) by completing the remaining elective requirements of this degree.

Admission Requirements
A Bachelor degree or equivalent. Where an applicants qualifications are not considered adequate, admission may be permitted on the basis of professional experience.

Advanced Standing
At least 50 per cent of program requirements must be completed at UNSW for the award of a UNSW postgraduate degree or diploma in the Faculty of the Built Environment. Advanced standing may be granted for completed or partially completed postgraduate awards from UNSW or from another institution. When considering the granting of advanced standing on the basis of previous postgraduate study at another institution, the program authority will take into account the quality of the institution and the quality, level and content of courses previously undertaken.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html