About CRUISE
CRUISE is the Centre for Regional and Urban Innovation and Statistical Exploration at Stellenbosch University (SU) and was founded in 2009 as a collaboration between the University of Stellenbosch and Statistics South Africa. The mission of CRUISE is to add value to the local and international pool of knowledge in the field of urban and regional systems analysis and to disseminate this knowledge through its research and postgraduate programmes. CRUISE offers two distinct postgraduate qualifications, namely a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Science. The Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning can be undertaken by means of a coursework programme (two years) or by a research dissertation only. The Master’s in Urban and Regional Science can be undertaken by means of a coursework (of one year) or a research dissertation. CRUISE also offers doctorate supervision for PhD candidates in Urban and Regional Planning, and Urban and Regional Science.
As the name of the centre suggests, the master’s programmes are distinguished from programmes offered at other tertiary institutions through its specific focus on quantitative and empirical planning research which is at the core of its teaching. Currently, a blended learning or hybrid approach is followed in CRUISE’s teaching method, where most modules are presented using a combination of online or virtual lectures and face-to-face contact sessions.
CRUISE forms part of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Stellenbosch.