MU alumni work in a number of diverse institutions, including: international cooperation agencies, municipal planning offices, research institutes and consultancy firms. Their work covers broad areas such as international finance, foreign aid, human settlements, slum improvement, and infrastructure development, among others. The programme equally provides access to PhD programmes.
The percentage of successful completion of the program amounts to 97% and represents a very high accomplishment rate. According to a recent alumni survey in 2017, 61,76% of MU graduates looked for employment only for less than half a year and 17,65% for less than a year after having graduated from MU.
Internships
Thanks to the vast network of which MU takes part, opportunities for the mandatory internship arise during the course. These have given opportunities for job placement for our alumni upon course completion. In previous years, MU students interned at numerous organisations from local authorities to international organisations in Germany and in other countries around the world. These organisations included the African Development Bank, Albert Speer & Partners, Arquitectos Sin Fronteras-Architects Without Borders, Caritas, CRATerre, GIZ, Habitat for Humanity, Regional Authority Frankfurt Rhine-Main, UNHCR-the UN Agency for Refugees, and UCLG Barcelona-United Cities and Local Governments, to name a few.
Success stories
Susan Laurie, USA
Mundus Urbano alumna Susan Laurie is working in Sarajevo, on the GIZ project “Countering Serious Crime in the Western Balkans.” This project’s objective is to raise the effectiveness of and cooperation among regional and national institutions in fighting serious and organised crime in the region. The Project works with Ministries of Justice, Ministries of Interior, Prosecution Offices and police in the beneficiary countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The project functions in close cooperation with national, regional and European partners to provide immediate advice within beneficiary institutions, standardized communication networks and specific, capacity-building trainings. Together they work to combat illegal migrant smuggling, recover illegal financial gains obtained through diverse criminal acts and detect the underlying structures behind serious and organised crime (such as gun, drug and human trafficking). You can find more information at: IPA/2017 and on youtube.
Alexandria Novokowski, Canada
Mundus Urbano alumna, Alexandria Novokowsky, completed her internship at the United Nations World Food Programme and was offered a position as a Research Analyst with the Office of Evaluation Head Quarters in Rome. Above, Alexandria poses in front of the inception mission of the WFP Cambodia to kick off a country portfolio evaluation. She encourages you to reach out to her if you are interested in more information on the organization! She is available via LinkedIn.
Maria Ustinova, Russia
Mundus Urbano alumna Maria Usinova (2008-2010) won a research scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for her research project on school design improvement in 2015. As a Federal Chancellor Fellow, Maria spent a year at TU Darmstadt, where she worked under supervision of Prof. Dr. Annette Rudolph-Cleff. Currently she works as a consultant for the World Bank in Moscow, Russia, at the Department of Education, Social Protection and Labour.
Sebastian Fritz, Germany
Mundus Urbano alumnus Sebastian Fritz completed his internship at the German consulting agency GOPA Infra GmbH, which concentrates on the provision and operation of sustainable infrastructures. Working together with our guest lecturer Lukas Hoye, Sebastian was involved in the preparation of tenders for national and international clients, the identification and recruiting of international and national project-experts, as well as the operation of on-going projects.
Pinar Bilgiç, Turkey
Mundus Urbano alumna Pinar Bilgic worked externally on the new land-use planning concept of the region Frankfurt Rhein Main upon completion of the master’s programme and her mandatory internship at the Regionalverband Frankfurt Rhein Main in 2016. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Fachbereich Architektur TU Darmstadt. Her research focuses on the urban transformations in the region and the growing conflict between meeting the housing demand and protecting Urban Green Spaces. Since 2018, Pinar has been actively involved with the coordination of the AESOP’s Young Academic Network.
Anaïs-Marie De Keijser, Belgium/Burundi
Our former Programme Manager, Anaïs-Marie De Keijser, took part in a rich and fruitful experience at the American Association of Geographers Congress. The event took place from April 10 to 14, 2017 in Boston, USA. As one of four panelists on a session entitled “The Just City: an exploration of emerging research on achieving justice in the city,” Anaïs introduced some findings from her research in discussion with Professor Susan Fainstein herself. After successfully defending her PhD dissertation in 2018, Anaïs-Marie is working with SWECO in Brussels, Belgium as an Urban Development Expert.
Dana Barqawai, Jordan
Our alumna Dana Barqawi completed her internship at the UN-HABITAT headquarters in Nairobi. She is currently based in Jordan, working as an Urban Planner with a civil society expert organisation called BORDA. Through developing, implementing and disseminating decentralised sustainable technologies and social measures for water, wastewater, energy and waste, the work with which Dana is involved, is committed to making the transition towards liveable and inclusive cities. The intent is to give disadvantaged urban populations access to basic public services such as energy, sanitation, waste management, and water.
Sarfaraz Adnanis, Bangladesh
Mundus Urbano alumnus Sarfaraz Adnan is currently a DPhil (Ph.D.) student in Geography and the Environment at Oriel College in Oxford, UK. His research focuses on flood risk management interventions in the coastal region of Bangladesh. His DPhil research is also affiliated with the on-going REACH Programme, which is “a global research programme to improve water security for the poor by delivering world-class science that transforms policy and practice.”