Graduate Profile for
Bachelor of Environmental Planning (BEP)

2010

Preamble

The Bachelor of Environmental Planning degree is a specialised degree designed to achieve the professional requirements expected of qualified planners. It provides graduates with the opportunity to develop a multi-skilled background that responds to today’s need for integrated, sustainable (social, ecological & economic) planning solutions that are directly relevant to New Zealand's economic and environmental sustainability.

The papers offered by the University of Waikato towards the Bachelor of Environmental Planning have been designed to achieve mastery of planning theory and practice from the perspectives of the community, businesses and regulatory bodies, within the context of the Treaty of Waitangi and a multicultural society; acquisition of planning skills and the development of the personal and professional attributes of good citizens. Learning experiences are incorporated into the programme to bring about these desired outcomes, and assessment is designed to ensure that students have the opportunity to demonstrate their achievement.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences seeks in all its qualifications to encourage the development of the ability to analyse such knowledge critically, to provide the skills needed to articulate their knowledge and positions and to contribute to the extension of knowledge by research.

The University is committed to the delivery of excellence in all of its functions and activities and to working with the region and the people it serves. It has developed strong relationships and networks with communities and businesses to ensure that its programmes and qualifications are relevant and responsive to our students’ needs as well as their needs. The University is also responsive to a range of social and economic goals which have been identified as priorities by Government. The generic capabilities developed by our graduates are of critical importance, as are specialist knowledge and skills. This graduate profile includes an outline of its links with other education sector groups, community groups, industry and employers who have an interest in the capabilities of graduates of this qualification, who contribute to programme planning and development and who also, in many cases, provide workplace experience opportunities.

Mastery of Content

Bachelor of Environmental planning graduates will have advanced knowledge in Environmental Planning together with knowledge relevant to their area of specialisation (e.g. Public Policy and the Environment, Freshwater Environments) and a breadth of knowledge of economics, environmental science, and public and social policy. Graduates of this programme will have mastered the following:

• the history and socio-political background of environmental planning in New Zealand and overseas;
• The changing nature of planning including spatial, rural and urban components
• Theories of planning, including theories of planning for sustainability
• The governance of environmental planning in New Zealand
• The ethical and value dimensions of planning in the context of the Treaty of Waitangi in a multicultural society
• Knowledge, application and evaluation of the appropriate tools and techniques for effective professional planning practice
• The principles of generic planning practice as well as the practices specifically associated with New Zealand’s key planning legislation (e.g. the Resource Management Act, the Conservation Act and the Local Government Act 2002)
• Knowledge of professional planning ethics
• Understanding of the relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, water, sites, waahi tapu, and other taonga

Acquisition of Skills

Bachelor of Environmental Planning graduates will have critical thinking skills, oral and communication skills, self-directed learning skills and familiarity with particular techniques and tools relevant to Environmental Planning:

• Competency in a range of techniques applicable to planning practice in the workforce; including techniques of community consultation and involvement
• An awareness of social justice and ethical issues in relation to planning and resource management
• An awareness of the relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, water, sites, waahi tapu, and other taonga.
• An ability to evaluate and assess the validity of information presented in Scientific and Technical reports (from both the natural and social sciences)
• An ability to assemble, evaluate, analyse, assess, and synthesise information from a wide range of disciplines
• The ability to communicate information in a readable and effective way for decision makers
• Effective written and oral communication of information, arguments, and analyses in a variety of forms, to specialist and non-specialist audiences
• The ability to make sound judgements in relation to planning objectives, policies and methods in accord with legal requirements and principles of good planning
• The ability to adapt and respond to changing circumstances
• The ability to locate relevant information in a range of contexts (information literacy)
• The ability to work effectively in a team situation
• The development of self-awareness in relation to value judgements and the capacity to accommodate different points of view
• The demonstrable ability to exercise of initiative and personal responsibility
• The capacity for self-direction in tackling and solving problems
• The capacity for autonomous action and initiative in planning and managing tasks
• The academic capacity to undertake appropriate further education and/or training

Development of Attributes

• Intellectual judgement, flexibility and adaptability developed by their exposure to rival perspectives, approaches, and theories, and their experience of grappling with open-ended questions, including an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge
• An ability to judge and assess and to integrate knowledge. These attributes equip them to confront a wide variety of unanticipated tasks and situations (in employment and elsewhere); a significant understanding of people and of the conditions, circumstances, structures and dynamics of, and affecting, social and professional interaction
• The capacity for working cooperatively with diverse groups and individuals and contributing effectively to collective projects;
• An ability to determine criteria for evaluating their own and others' performance in relation to a task
• An ability to exercise initiative and personal responsibility