At the School of Urban and Regional Planning, your experience goes beyond the classroom. From day one, you become part of a close-knit, welcoming community where students from across Canada and around the world come together to learn, collaborate, and build lasting connections. This diversity shapes not only the conversations in class, but also the friendships and perspectives you carry with you long after graduation.
You will spend your time in an environment designed for collaboration. Student offices sit alongside faculty spaces, visiting scholars, and project rooms on the third floor of Mackintosh-Corry Hall, making it easy to connect, exchange ideas, and get support when you need it. Just downstairs, you’ll find the School’s dedicated classroom, GIS Lab, and Departmental Office. All of which are conveniently located along a lively student hub. It’s a setting that naturally brings people together.
As a SURP student, you don’t just attend the School, you help shape it. Students play an active role in decision-making, contributing to key committees that guide everything from academics to events and faculty appointments. Opportunities like the student-led International Experience Awards program give you the chance to manage funding and create meaningful field experiences for your peers.
This spirit of participation carries into student life. Many of the School’s academic events, workshops, and social activities are organized by students themselves, creating a culture that is both collaborative and deeply engaging. Long hours spent working on studio projects are balanced by a strong sense of camaraderie and shared purpose.
By the time you graduate, you won’t just leave with a degree, you will leave with a network, a community, and friendships that last a lifetime.
Internships
The School of Urban and Regional Planning offers a rigorous, hands-on internship program designed to build real-world experience. Students secure paid placements with organizations across all three levels of government, as well as in the private and civil society sectors, both in Ontario and across Canada, with opportunities available internationally. Typically completed over the summer between the first and second years, these three to four-month internships allow students to apply their skills in professional settings, expand their networks, and gain valuable experience that strengthens their career prospects.
Internship InformationField Trips
Field trips a core part of part of the SURP experience, giving students the opportunity to explore planning issues in diverse communities through direct observation and hands-on learning. Students have the opportunity to engage in weekly walking tours of Kingston where they examine local planning challenges and opportunities firsthand. Meanwhile, trips to Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal during your first term directly reinforce the material covered in first-year courses, connecting classroom concepts to real urban environments.
Together, Kingston, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montréal offer a wide range of case studies, each with a high quality of life, active planning agendas, and distinct urban and regional challenges. From growth and public design spaces in Toronto, to governance and transit in Ottawa, to urbanist design and heritage preservation in Montréal, these field experiences help students develop a deeper understanding of the social, political, and physical forces that shape cities and regions.
Social Events
While SURP is academically rigorous, social events are a key part of the student experience and help build a strong sense of community throughout the year. From karaoke nights and movie nights to skating in Springer Market Square and cheering on the Kingston Frontenacs, students have plenty of opportunities to connect outside the classroom. Signature events like the winter holiday party and end-of-year celebration bring together students, friends, and family to celebrate milestones and achievements, while casual BBQs and the program’s legendary Halloween party have become memorable SURP traditions. These shared experiences help foster lasting friendships and make the program as socially rewarding as it is academically engaging.
Queen’s Graduate Association of Planning Students (QGAPS)
In 2011, graduate students in the School of Urban and Regional Planning established the Queen’s Graduate Association of Planning Students (QGAPS) to represent the collective will of students in the Master of Planning program. QGAPS works to facilitate communication of the variety of activities and associations in which students serve and to promote the interests of its members.
Council is QGAP's official decision-making body and its voting members are the Executive and Representatives. The Association consists of:
- 5 Executive members (President, VP Finance, VP Administration, VP Academic and Professional Development, VP Social Affairs);
- 7 Representatives (Upper Year CAPS, First Year CAPS, Upper Year OPPI, First Year OPPI, SGPS, Upper Year Class, First Year Class);
- 5 Committees (Promotions and Exhibitions, Academic and Professional Events, Social Events, International Experience Awards, Orientation);
- and 4 Coordinators (Course Review, Professional Development, Technical Support, Unit Research Ethics Board).
Students are represented on the main governing bodies of the School (such as its SURP Graduate Committee) and on numerous more focused groups and therefore have a significant voice in the policy-making activities of the School.
QGAPS members help organize a number of activities and events throughout the year including first-year student orientation, trips to conferences (such as OPPI and CAPS), field trips to Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal, a visiting speakers lecture series, social functions and community events, and professional development activities and planning careers sessions with alumni.
A meeting is held in September each year to elect the non-executive members of council to their respective positions (a two-year commitment) and in January to elect the executive (a one-year commitment). All QGAPS members may vote. Council is required to meet formally at least once per month between September and April, and informally at least once during May to August. Agenda topics range from internal administrative and financial matters to academic and professional development. Special meetings are held as needed.