Written by BK Sahni · Reviewed by the Editorial Team · Last updated: 23 October 2026

The course at a glance

What is the IGNOU MAUS Project (MEDSP-045)?

The MA Urban Studies project is easy to misread because it sits in the first year, not the last. Most IGNOU master’s projects arrive near the end of a programme; this one competes for space with MEDS-041 to MEDS-044 in Year 1. Those four theory courses carry 6 credits each, so the elective brings the first year to 32 credits, the same total the handbook describes for the diploma it was written for.

The paperwork problem

Which document governs the IGNOU MAUS Project?

The IGNOU MAUS Project has no handbook of its own. The rules a MAUS learner follows come from the MEDSP-045 Handbook on Project Work, which SOEDS prepared in June 2013 for the PG Diploma in Urban Planning and Development (PGDUPDL). The degree shares that diploma’s course set: its four Year 1 theory courses, its two electives and its project code are the same as PGDUPDL’s, which is why the PGDUPDL programme page and the eGyanKosh MAUS listing name the same MEDSP-045 course.

Reading a diploma handbook as a degree student creates five small conflicts. None of them is a reason to delay, but each one decides what goes on a form, so they are set out below with what the current sources show.

BK Sahni, who has guided 5,00,000 students till date, treats the code mismatch as the one worth settling first: the proforma, the evaluation sheet and the eGyanKosh record all print MEDSP-045, and a form that uses a different code is a form someone has to query. The rest of the MAUS project guidelines in the handbook (proposal headings, supervisor rules, report order and marks) carry no conflict at all and apply as written. A learner who also holds or plans the diploma will find that a PGDUPDL project and a MAUS project are, on paper, the same course.

The elective decision

Is the MAUS project compulsory, or is MEDSE-046 the better option?

For the IGNOU MAUS Project, the first decision comes before any topic: whether to take it at all. It is not compulsory. The MAUS programme page lists Project Work and MEDSE-046 Development: Issues and Perspectives in the same Year 1 slot, eGyanKosh labels both as electives, and the handbook describes the arrangement directly: four compulsory theory courses of 6 credits each, plus either a theory course or a project of 8 credits, to complete 32 credits.

The choice matters for a second reason. The MAUS page notes an exit option after the first year with the PG Diploma in Urban Planning and Development, and allows PGDUPDL holders lateral entry into the second year through credit transfer. Whichever elective is completed in Year 1 is therefore part of the credits that move between the two awards. The rules for changing an elective after registration are set by the University; the Regional Centre confirms whether a change is still open in a given session.

Choosing what to study

MAUS project topics that pass the handbook’s feasibility test

Topic choice for the IGNOU MAUS Project starts with feasibility, not ambition. The handbook lists seven points to weigh before settling on a title: suitability, relevance to urban planning and development, the time available, whether data can be collected within that time, the difficulties of collecting it, the cost, and the communication facilities and local language of the study area. A topic that fails any one of these tends to fail at the data stage, after approval, which is the most expensive place to discover it.

Annexure I of the handbook offers 30 sample topics and says plainly that they are prompts, not a closed list. Grouped by the kind of evidence they need, they fall into five families.

One sample topic needs updating before use. The JNNURM case study suggested in the list refers to a mission the Government of India replaced in 2015 with AMRUT and the Smart Cities Mission, so the same idea now works better as a study of a current mission project. MAUS project topics drawn from a learner’s own workplace (a municipal office, a housing board, an urban NGO) pass the access test most easily, provided the supervisor or the Study Centre can issue the authorisation letter the handbook mentions for data collection.

Before any fieldwork

How to write the MAUS project synopsis and proposal

The proposal is the gate for the IGNOU MAUS Project: no fieldwork counts until SOEDS has approved it. The handbook uses “project proposal” and “synopsis” for the same document, and it asks for one copy, signed by the supervisor, with a copy kept by the learner.

The MAUS project proposal format: seven headings

1. Title, specific enough to name the place and the unit studied.
2. Introduction, setting out why the issue matters in that city or town.
3. Objectives, three or four that the data can actually answer.
4. Problem statement, the gap or question the study addresses.
5. Research methodology, naming the locale, the sampling, the instruments and the statistical tools.
6. Limitations, if any.
7. References.

For drafting the methodology heading, the handbook points learners to Block 1, Project Formulation and Management, of MEDS-044, the Year 1 course on monitoring and evaluation, and to its Block 3 on measurement and sampling.

What goes with the MAUS project synopsis

• The Proforma for Approval of Project Proposal (MEDSP-045), Annexure II, filled in and signed by both the student and the supervisor.
• A detailed bio-data of the supervisor, signed, with date of birth, office and home addresses, telephone numbers, qualifications with years of passing, and work experience with designation and organisation.
• The proposal itself.

The proforma is blunt about the bio-data: without a complete, signed copy, the proposal is not entertained, even when the supervisor is an academic counsellor of the programme.

When to send it and how long approval takes

The handbook advises learners admitted in the January session to send the proposal by 30 April, and those admitted in July by 31 October, so the project can be completed on time; proposals that miss those dates are still accepted through the year. SOEDS sends a written approval or non-approval by email and post within six weeks of receiving the proposal. In practice a July entrant who elects the project has only a few months between admission and the recommended target date, and so does a January entrant, which is why topic and supervisor need settling in the first weeks.

The supervisor

Who can supervise an IGNOU MAUS Project?

The IGNOU MAUS Project needs a supervisor who fits one of five categories in the handbook, and the person’s signed bio-data is how SOEDS checks the fit. A MAUS project supervisor can be:

1. a faculty member at SOEDS headquarters;
2. an academic counsellor of PGDUPDL, the PG Diploma in Extension and Development Studies or the MA in Extension and Development Studies, with relevant experience;
3. a teacher or researcher in urban planning and development;
4. a PhD holder in urban development, development studies, economics, sociology, public administration, political science, extension education or a related discipline;
5. a master’s or MPhil holder in any of those disciplines with at least two years of experience.

An academic counsellor also states which courses they counsel, since when, and the name and code of their Study Centre. If SOEDS does not accept a proposed supervisor, the learner changes the supervisor and sends the proposal again; a supervisor change for any other reason also needs a fresh proforma and is treated as a new proposal. The handbook fixes a token honorarium of Rs 300 per student for guidance, claimed by the supervisor on the Annexure IV bill when the report is submitted.

The report

MAUS project report format, word limit and marks

The IGNOU MAUS Project report must follow the approved proposal and run to about 40 to 50 typed pages, not exceeding roughly 10,000 words without appendices and exhibits; the handbook allows 10 percent either way. That puts the MAUS project word limit between about 9,000 and 11,000 words. The language is English, the paper A4, and the report is presented in the order below.

1. Title page with the project title, name, address, enrolment number and year
2. Certificate of originality, signed by the student and the supervisor (Annexure III)
3. Acknowledgement and table of contents
4. Introduction, with objectives and rationale
5. Review of literature
6. Methodology: sample, tools and statistical analysis
7. Results and discussion, with tables and graphs
8. Conclusion, limitations and suggestions for further work
9. References in APA style, listed alphabetically
10. Appendices: the questionnaire or interview schedule, and copies of the approved proforma, approved proposal and supervisor bio-data

The marks are not spread evenly, and the MAUS project report format reflects that. Annexure V gives the examiner this scheme, and planning word counts in proportion to it keeps effort where the marks are.

Results and discussion alone carry 40 marks. A report that spends half its length on definitions of urbanisation and a quarter page on findings has its proportions inverted, whatever the overall word count.

Getting it evaluated

Submission, last date and fee for the IGNOU MAUS Project

The IGNOU MAUS Project report is submitted online in a window notified by the Student Evaluation Division (SED), not on a date printed in the handbook. The 2013 handbook describes the older postal route: one typed, bound copy on A4 paper, sent by registered or speed post to the Registrar (SED), IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi 110068, with “PROJECT REPORT-PGDUPDL” written on the envelope, after which a Project Report number is allotted. It also links results to two submission bands, 1 December to 31 May for the June term-end results and 1 June to 30 November for December. That band system is how the course worked then; it is not the current calendar.

Current practice runs through fixed online windows. For the June 2026 term-end examination, the SED upload page on onlineproject.ignou.ac.in closed on 15 June 2026, and it required the report to be prepared on the approved proposal. For December 2026, IGNOU’s official X account announced the Online Project Management System (OPMS) on 16 October 2026, and education news coverage reports that learners reach it through their Samarth login with 30 November 2026 as the last date. The MAUS project submission last date for any session is the one in that session’s SED notice, so the notice itself should be read before the upload.

The MAUS project evaluation fee is Rs 500, the rate the Common Prospectus sets for project work above 4 credits from the January 2023 admission cycle. An IGNOU announcement for the December 2026 term-end examination asks for project, internship and practical course fees through the IGNOU Samarth portal by 30 November 2026.

On the MAUS project viva: the handbook describes evaluation by an external examiner, selected by the Student Evaluation Division from a list approved by SOEDS, using the Annexure V scheme, and it does not describe a viva-voce. A learner who receives a notice calling for one follows the notice.

When it comes back

MAUS project rejected? The usual reasons and the resubmission route

Most returned proposals for the IGNOU MAUS Project fail on paperwork or scope, and both are visible before posting. The handbook’s own conditions point to the common causes:

• Bio-data missing or unsigned. The proforma states that such a proposal is not entertained.
• Supervisor outside the five categories, most often a master’s degree holder without the two years of experience the fifth category requires.
• A topic the data cannot support, such as a city-wide impact claim from a handful of respondents, which fails the feasibility points in Section 6 of the handbook.
• A method other than case study or survey, the two methods the handbook advises for MEDSP-045.
• A methodology heading without locale, sampling, instruments or statistical tools, the four items the proposal format names.

A non-approved proposal comes back with comments. The revised version goes in with a revised proforma, a copy of the rejected proposal and proforma bearing the evaluator’s comments, and the Project Proposal (P.P.) number already allotted. At the report stage, the risk is different: a report that drifts from the approved proposal, or arrives without the originality certificate and the approved proforma, gives the examiner a reason to mark it down.

Independent study-help disclosure: ignouproject.shop is run by Shri Chakradhar Publication Pvt. Ltd. and is not the official website of IGNOU or SOEDS. This article summarises published university documents for guidance only; official notifications on ignou.ac.in prevail over anything written here.

Written & Reviewed By

BK Sahni iD 0009-0005-8092-459X

Founder, Shri Chakradhar Publication Pvt. Ltd. & its IGNOU Project study-help brand, helping IGNOU distance-learning students since 2010 and having guided 5,00,000 students till date across MBA, MCom, MA & more. Author of IGNOU exam guides, solved assignments & project reference books.

Full Profile → LinkedIn Instagram YouTube Google Scholar Academia Medium Amazon Author Quora Scribd bksahni.com ↗

Editorial method: Content is cross-checked against official IGNOU and Samarth notifications and the latest assignment, exam, and project guidelines on ignou.ac.in before each update. Refreshed before every June & December TEE cycle. Published research: author of open-access IGNOU project methodology guides on Zenodo (CERN), indexed with permanent DOIs.

Disclosure: Shri Chakradhar Publication Pvt. Ltd. and ignouproject.shop are independent third-party study-help services, not the official IGNOU website. Always verify final dates and rules on ignou.ac.in.