Masters Program

The SCARP Masters Program is a generalist degree providing basic expertise across a number of substantive areas and the ability to critically integrate perspectives from each area. The program's strength is in the diversity of its faculty and students.  Students earn either a Master of Arts (Planning) or a Master of Science (Planning) depending on their undergraduate degree. All students entering the program are eligible to take any course offered as part of the School's curriculum.

The Masters Degree requires the completion of sixty credits of course work (the equivalent of 16 one-term courses plus an academically oriented thesis or 18 one- term courses plus a professionally oriented project). The program generally takes 24-36 months to complete.  Students design their individual program of studies with the assistance of a Program Advisor who is a faculty member assigned to them at the beginning of the first term. Once a Research Supervisor is selected, this SCARP faculty member assumes all advising responsibility.

Masters Program requirements are amended from year to year. Students must satisfy the regulations that existed when they first enrolled. If students have any furthur questions about their program requirements they should speak to their Program Advisor.

Students enter the program once a year in September. We do not offer admission in January. The academic year is divided into terms: Term 1 - September to December; Term 2- January-April. Although limited, additional courses are also offered during the summer (May to August). Once a student is in the program they must maintain continuous registration until they have graduated. In special circumstances, a leave of absence (maximum six months) is possible.

Entering students are required to attend non-credit orientation sessions in the week preceding the start of classes. These include an introduction to faculty, staff and other students and a comprehensive review of the School's curriculum.

Focus Areas and Specializations

To assist students in designing their programs in ways appropriate to their specific interests and SCARP’s strengths, six focus areas and two specializations Focus Areas and Specializations have been identified by the faculty. Each year Focus Area & Specialization Advising Guidelines will reflect the courses being offered and the faculty members available for supervising research. These concentrations and combinations of them reflect the expanding scope of professional planning and thus the increasing relevance and applicability of a planning-based education to problem-solving in both the public and private domains. They also acknowledge that while planning, as the systemic application of knowledge to societal problems, may have a common theoretical and procedural base, it is impossible for any one student in a two-year program to master all the substantive knowledge and specific skills relevant to the expanding profession today.