SPRING signifies Spatial Planning for Regions in Growing Economies and is a two-year Master´s degree programme that addresses current topics of spatial planning in developing and emerging countries. In lectures, for instance SPRING participants discuss the challenges of rapid urban growth, reflect on the conflict between environmental protection and economic development, develop concepts to improve transport systems or define strategies to cope with impacts of climate change. The first year of the SPRING programme takes place at TU Dortmund University, followed by a second year at one of the four partnering universities in Ghana, Tanzania, The Philippines or Chile. Language of instruction is English. The SPRING programme awards a M.Sc. Degree in “Regional development Planning and Management”. Both final documents, certificate and transcript, are jointly issued by TU Dortmund University and the respective partnering university of the second study year.
Over the last decades, many governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America have initiated new regional development strategies, based on national decentralisation policies in order to reduce regional disparities. The level of management of the new decentralised administrative units (districts, regions or municipalities), however, rarely correspond with the new requirements. The quality of governance is still weak and experience in managing regional and urban development limited. Planners are increasingly challenged to bridge the boundaries between administrative sectors and the gap between formulating a plan and implementing a programme. New qualifications are required, ranging from planning competence to management skills, i.e. to make programmes operational with respect to financial requirements and restrictions or to moderate participatory processes. In order to fill the evident gap in adequate training for regional planning and management, five universities in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe are co-operating in running the SPRING programme. Launched in 1984 and designed as a joint post-graduate course, SPRING has pioneered a new way of international academic co-operation.
20.11.2018 – Sègla Emmanuelle Laurinda GODJO, SPRING student Batch 2017/19, from Benin Republic, has attended the Third ACP/EC/UN-Habitat International Tripartite Conference on “Transforming African, Caribbean and Pacific cities, leaving no one behind: engaging in large scale investments in slums” in Brussels from 14th to 16th November 2018.
25.10.2018 – Ricardo G Paris, Aurelia Guasch Antúnez and Maria Fernanda Romero, alumni of SPRING Batch 2015-17, have published an article in the Journal TRIALOG about strategic and community-based planning in urban development.
16.10.2018 – Christine Bonsu is a SPRING Alumna of the batch 2013/15. She has studied her first year of SPRING at the TU Dortmund University and her second year at KNUST, Ghana. After the successful completion of the SPRING programme, she has worked with Scania West Africa Ltd. In Ghana as a Transport Planner and subsequently as a Sustainable Transport Solutions Manager.
16.10.2018 – After completing SPRING master’s program in 2008, Basheer Saeed returned to his home country, Iraq, to teach at the University of Duhok in the Department of Spatial Planning. In 2011, he obtained a Human Capacity Development Program (HCDP) Fellowship
SPRING partnering organsations:
DAAD – German Academic Exchance Service
UN Habitat - United Nations Human Settlement Programme
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