PLAAS: Postgraduate Diploma & MPhil in Land and Agrarian Studies

The Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape invites applications for its Postgraduate Diploma & MPhil in Land and Agrarian Studies.

• Are you interested in a key policy issue: land redistribution and the restructuring of agrarian social relations to address problems of deep rural poverty?
• Would you like to study land reform and agrarian change in Southern Africa from a multi-disciplinary perspective, and enhance your capacity to critically analyse policies and programmes?

PLAAS offers a unique programme of postgraduate study, which draws on academic expertise from a variety of disciplines at two Western Cape universities, together with the Legal Resources Centre. This distance learning course is undertaken through a combination of three on-campus teaching blocks, of two weeks each, and distance assignments. Both the Postgraduate Diploma and the MPhil (Coursework) in Land and Agrarian Studies require students to complete six taught coursework modules. After successful completion of the modules, students graduate with a Postgraduate Diploma. Alternatively, students who complete the modules with an average of 65% and above may apply to be upgraded to an MPhil (Coursework) programme. This requires completion of a mini-thesis on an appropriate topic.

The six coursework modules are:

• LAS 701: The history of the land question in South Africa
• LAS 702: The agrarian question in Southern Africa
• LAS 703: Land and agrarian reform in contemporary Africa: Comparative perspectives and policy debates
• LAS 704: The economics of agrarian systems
• LAS 706: Sustainable rural livelihoods, poverty and HIV/AIDS
• LAS 708: Legal and socio-legal dimensions of land and agrarian reform

Applications are invited from holders of an undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. Sociology, History, Economics, Political Science, Agriculture, Geographical and Environmental Studies). Non-graduates with substantial experience in land or agrarian reform may apply to be considered on the basis of recognition of prior (RPL) learning.

For more information and application forms, contact Carla Henry on 021 959 3727 / 3733 or email: chenry@uwc.ac.za.

Closing date for applications: 30 September 2009.

For more information on PLAAS, click here.