Here below you can find all master courses the University Centre offers. All courses are taught in 1-3 week modules running from August through June. See how the courses are organised in the teaching schedule for both programs. Usually 2-3 courses are taught at the same time, but students may only enroll in one course at a time.
The master courses are available to you whether you plan to pursue a degree or just take a course or courses. Please review the options for guest studies to determine how you can apply.
For further information, contact the Administrative Director of Education and Teaching.
Regional Policy Evaluation
- Spring 2027
- Instructor: Dr. Joost Dessein
About the course
The course provides an overview of the concepts, processes, and methods of policy and program evaluation in the field of regional policies. Students learn how to plan, prepare, and conduct an evaluation, as well as disseminate the evaluation findings of regional policies and development programs in various contexts.
Instructor
is an associate professor at the department of Agricultural Economics (Ghent University, Belgium), an affiliated member of the Centre for Sustainable Development (UGent) and a promotor of the recently established Urban Academy. He holds an Msc in Agricultural Engineering and a Msc and PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology, all of which obtained at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium).
Joost chairs the research group on Institutional, Socio-economic and Political Issues in Rural-urban Areas (INSPIRA). The main focus of INSPIRA is the study of rural and urban development processes in the food system . The research group tackles different issues related to food governance, social and environmental justice, knowledge systems, economic development, and food production and markets. Building synergies within the research group, as well as with other partners, is part of the strategic orientation of the INSPRIA, as we believe that co-creation, synergy and interdisciplinarity are necessary key-elements of a state-of-the-art research group.
Joost’s teaching and research expertise lies in the fields of Sociology of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. Teaching courses such as ‘Sociological perspectives on rural development’, ‘Food policy’, ‘Sustainable Food Systems’ or 'Community Engagement', Joost inspires his students to become critical and reflexive researchers and professionals. Ongoing research includes the governance of urban food systems (Ecuador, Tanzania, Belgium); the mobilising power of agroecology as a (counter-hegemonic) movement and practice (Bolivia, Argentina, Europe); and the recognition and valorisation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in processes of food system innovation (Ghana) and regional development (Belgium, Europe).
From 2019 till 2023, he has been President of the European Society for Rural Sociology, the leading European organisation for rural sociology (ESRS).
Learning outcome
On completion of the course a student:
- can describe relevant concepts related to policy and program evaluation.
- can define different types of evaluation stakeholders and their roles in the evaluation process.
- can apply typical data collection and analysis methods used in regional policy and program evaluation.
- can plan, prepare and conduct an external evaluation and self-assessment for a regional development program or a project.
- can design data collection instruments (e.g. survey, interview questions).
- can design an evaluation plan and disseminate the evaluation findings effectively to the different stakeholders.