I am in my 4th and final year studying urban planning in South Africa. I would like to do my Masters degree in either Urban Design or Transport Engineering. I would appreciate information regarding post graduate degrees. Which university and information about the course and stuff like that.
Stephan
Moderator note:
Hi Stephan! I moved your thread from the Introduce Yourself subforum to the Student Lounge. You'll get much better responses here as this is the more appropriate subforum. Thanks and carry on!
No longer for better. No longer for worse. And certainly not for lunch.
My main goal is to qualify myself better and use the knowledge that I have gained to help South Africa transform from a developing country to a developed country. Like the regeneration of the railways, improved transport concepts and solutions to traffic problems in the metropoles. Every piece of advice would be appreciated.
You might check out the MS in Transportation at MIT. http://cee.mit.edu/node/44 It is an interdisciplinary program that incorporates aspects of civil engineering with city planning.
Transportation Engineering is more technical than design, therefore more lucrative.
However, I think to get a masters degree in engineering you would need to have a undergraduate degree in engineering. Design and engineering are separate disciplines.
I don't think you would necessarily have to get, or would even want, a transportation engineering degree to be involved in those kinds of issues.
A lot of the transportation engineering classes are dedicated to the actual design and construction of roads and other transportation facilities.
To me, given that you've been studying planning, it sounds like you're more interested in the planning and big-picture side of transportation than in the design/construction side.
I'd suggest a master's degree in planning at a university that offers a specialization in planning. Given what it sounds like your interests are, I'd also recommend a school that also has an engineering program, and taking some of the civil engineering classes that deal more with the planning and big-picture aspects of transportation.
This is off the top of my head, but some programs that you might want to look at include UCLA, Georgia Tech, UNC (you could take CE classes at N.C. State), Rutgers (engineering classes at NJIT), Berkeley, Florida, MIT.
I'm quite sure there are a number of other schools that would fit your interest, those are just the ones that come to mind quickly.
Check out the MIT MS in Transportation. It is an interdisciplinary program within the civil engineering department that incorporates both planning and engineering.
Thanks for all the advise, I would like to get information on Masters degree in Transport Planning. I do understand I have to get an engineer degree to do my masters in Transport Engineering, I have seen programmes for planners that qualify you as a Transport Engineer when you are doing your Masters. I am looking for a Masters degree in Transport Planning or Urban designing. The Urban Planning discipline is so diverse and there are plenty of options you can choose from, thats is why I want to qualify myself better to be a few steps ahead of the majority.
If you want to look locally check out the Center for Transport Studies at UCT: http://www.cfts.uct.ac.za/ Has a postgraduate programs in transport planning an engineering
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