New bursary to help promote diversity in planning

The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has announced four undergraduate bursaries for the 2016-17 academic year to help high-achieving students from diverse backgrounds or living with a disability to study planning and gain Chartered membership.

The new bursaries, worth £2000 each, will be offered to undergraduate students already enrolled on an RTPI accredited planning course in the UK or Ireland.

Professor Paul Milbourne, Head of the School of Geography and Planning said: “We hope these bursaries will help fill the shortage of planners and increase the diversity of the planning profession. Two of the bursaries will be available for students with a disability and two will be for students who are under-represented in the planning profession, for example those from an ethnic minority.

“The School has three undergraduate planning programmes accredited by the RTPI, and students who meet the criteria on these programmes are able to apply.”

Speaking about the bursaries Mike Haslam, Chair of the RTPI Trust said: “Planning plays a vital role in shaping our society and environment, and the planning profession should be as diverse as the community it serves. This is why we need to keep encouraging the best talents into the profession, regardless of background.

“While we have made great strides in achieving gender balance of new planners entering the profession, there is more we can do to help others who for various reason feel inhibited to go into planning. The new bursaries will help remove some of the barriers to studying planning and widen the talent pool of the profession.”

Accredited Planning Schools with undergraduate programmes will send nominations to the RTPI.  Interested students should contact their planning school to express interest in being put forward.

These new bursaries are being funded by the RTPI Trust. The RTPI Trust is a registered charity, independent from the RTPI. It exists to provide support to students, RTPI members and their families who are in genuine financial hardship.

The RTPI Trust bursaries build on the success of the RTPI’s Future Planners Bursary Fund (backed by £36,000 Government funding) which encourage students from any discipline to study planning on an accredited Masters course.

More information on the bursary and how to apply can be found here: RTPI Trust Bursary