• English-taught
  • Winter semester intake

SPRING – Spatial Planning for Regions in Growing Economies (M.Sc.) (M.Sc.)

at TU Dortmund in Dortmund

At a glance

Language
English-taught
Duration
4 sem
Intake
Winter semester
Tuition
€0 public university
Semester fee
not confirmed

● Open: apply now applicants from Philippines/Ghana/Tanzania/Brazil/Chile · Winter semester

Focus areas: Natural-resource planning · Physical-infrastructure planning · Socio-economic development planning · Partner-specific tracks (e.g. urban planning, climate adaptation, governance)

A two-year, fully English joint master (running since 1984) on spatial planning in developing and emerging regions, awarded as M.Sc. Regional Development Planning and Management jointly with the year-2 partner university. Year 1 is at TU Dortmund; year 2 is at a partner university in Ghana, Tanzania, the Philippines, Chile or Brazil. Combines development theory, planning methods and practice-oriented field studies. Application is by e-mail directly to the SPRING office, not via uni-assist. Note: SPRING is designed for planning professionals, typically with 2+ years of relevant work experience, and follows a split-location structure (first year at TU Dortmund, second year at a partner university in your home region). It is distinct from the platform's typical quantitative/tech-focused MSc profile.

Admission requirements

Prior degree
Bachelor/Diploma with ≥240 ECTS in spatial/regional/urban planning or a planning-relevant discipline (geography, economics, architecture, agriculture, infrastructure planning). Civil engineering NOT accepted.
Minimum grade
≥3.0 ('satisfactory'); grades significantly above average preferred
English
TOEFL 550 (paper) / 213 (CBT) / 80 (iBT), or IELTS 6.0, or English-medium schooling/degree
German
not required
Prerequisite credits
  • Professional experience in a planning-related field desirable (approx. 2 years)
  • Strong commitment to regional development planning
Also required
Application by e-mail to the SPRING office with a fixed document set (application form, Europass CV, certificates, transcript, 2 recommendation letters, English test, high-school certificate)

Deadlines & timeline

Deadlines differ by where your degree is from. Dates change every cycle, so always confirm on the official page before planning. Where no fixed calendar date exists or none is confirmed yet, the Details column explains each case.
Who Intake Deadline Details
applicants from Philippines/Ghana/Tanzania/Brazil/Chile Winter semester Apply directly to the respective partner university by September 15.
all others Winter semester no fixed date Apply by e-mail to the SPRING office; confirm the exact annual cutoff with the office.

Fees & funding

Tuition
€0 per semester
Semester contribution
not confirmed
Semester ticket
included (Deutschland-Semesterticket)

⚠ SPRING charges tuition: the standard TU Dortmund €0 tuition does NOT apply (the 0 stored in this record is a schema-required placeholder, not a confirmed fee). Sources conflict: DAAD states €300/semester incl. Deutschlandticket at TU Dortmund; one aggregator states €550 first-year tuition. Year 2 is at a partner university with separate fees (varies by country: Ghana €3,355.50, Philippines ~€2,632, Tanzania ~€2,960, Chile €2,500, Brazil ~€2,819). Confirm exact fee structure with the SPRING office before relying on any figure: https://raumplanung.tu-dortmund.de/en/prospective-students/master-spring/

Scholarships are listed per university: see TU Dortmund scholarships.

How to apply

uni-assist
not required
Official page
raumplanung.tu-dortmund.de

EU applicants and holders of German degrees usually apply directly via the university's Campusportal instead of uni-assist; the deadline table above says which route applies to you.

What students say

No credible independent reviews found yet for this programme. We only publish reviews we can source: how we aggregate reviews.

Where graduates go

No alumni outcome data found yet.

External resources

External sites open in a new tab. We link out so you can verify every fact at the source.