Academic Coursework
The GSAV Certificate is based on five course offerings, with two required courses and one elective course. A total of 12 hours is required for the campus certificate.
The two courses (8 hours) required of all students are:
- UPP 460, 4 hours—Introduction to Geospatial Analysis and Visualization (offered fall & spring)
- UPP 461, 4 hours—Geographic Information Systems for Planning (formerly UPP 508; offered fall & spring)
Each student will develop more advanced skills in a particular aspect of geospatial analysis and visualization through the choice of one elective (4 hours) from among an additional three courses:
- UPP 462, 4 hours—Intermediate GIS for Planning (currently UPP 594: Special Topics in Urban Planning and Policy; offered fall & spring).
- UPP 463, 4 hours—Complexity-based Models for Planning and Policy (formerly UPP 555: Special Topics in Physical Planning; offered annually, variable fall or spring).
- UPP 464, 4 hours—Advanced Visualization Techniques (currently UPP 507: Computer Topics in Urban Planning; offered annually, variable fall or spring).
These courses allow students to focus on the geospatial analysis or visualization methods that are most applicable to their particular educational and career goals. The GSAV Campus Certificate will take 9-15 months to complete, based on a student’s time of admission, course load, and schedule of course offerings.
For more detailed descriptions of coursework, please refer to the UIC Graduate Catalog.
For information about course scheduling, please refer to the Two Year Plan for Course Availability on the UPP Classes page.
Academic Policies
Receipt of the GSAV Campus Certificate requires a GPA of 3.0 or higher in all courses taken toward the certificate, with a minimum grade of C in all courses.
Admission as a certificate student does not guarantee admission to any UIC degree program. Students seeking admission to a graduate program in UPP must meet all admission requirements for the program they wish to enroll in. Students previously or concurrently admitted to the MUPP or PhD program can apply up to 12 credits earned for the Certificate toward their degree program, as permitted by UPP’s policies laid out in the Student Handbooks, provided that all other program requirements are fulfilled.
To be successfuly enrolled in the GSAV certificate program and receive the GSAV certificate and notation on their UIC transcript, MUPP students must complete both the Intent to Complete GSAV Certificate form and the GSAV Request for Change of Graduate Program form.
Students admitted as non-degree certificate students who are later admitted to a graduate degree program in UPP can apply up to 12 credits with a grade of B or better toward a degree in UPP, provided they meet all admission requirements to the academic program and are admitted within three years of completion of the certificate program.