On Saturday 7th February the participants in the 2009 Sustainable Development will be presenting their Group Assignments for the week. This is the largest ever intake into the Masters Programme. 58 students have registered for the BPhil in Sustainable Development Planning and Management, which is the course work component of the Masters Programme. A total of 30 students have registered for the MPhil in Sustainable Development Planning and Management. This means the total intake for 2009 is 88 students.
The 58 students registered for the BPhil come from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds and from 9 different countries, including one from the USA and one from Equador. Significantly, 22 of the 58 come from the private sector, 21 from government, 8 from NGOs, 1 from the tertiary education sector and 6 are full-time students. Furthermore, the majority are black (31) and male (32). All except 6 have had previous work experience, with quite a number currently occupying senior executive positions in government, private companies and NGOs.
This large intake and the diverse backgrounds and sectors once more confirms that there is a growing demand across the board for high level education programmes in the sustainable development field. This is clearly a sign of the times.