IGNOU MAUS Project (MEDSP-045): Topics, Synopsis, Report Format and Sample Sets

IGNOU MAUS Project: what MEDSP-045 asks of a Year I learner

Two facts shape everything below. The MEDSP-045 handbook we read, issued by the School of Extension and Development Studies (SOEDS) in June 2013, was written for the PG Diploma in Urban Planning and Development (PGDUPDL), and MAUS Year I uses exactly the same course list, so a MAUS learner follows a file that names a different programme on almost every page. And for the December 2026 cycle, IGNOU has moved project reports to online upload, which replaces the postal route the handbook prints.

In our records, 70 to 80 percent of project students become active only in the final month before a submission date, and MAUS learners working on MEDSP-045 follow the same pattern. With the December 2026 upload closing on 30 November, that final month has already begun.

30 November 2026 and the MEDSP-045 report

For an IGNOU MAUS Project report meant for this cycle, the date that matters is 30 November 2026. IGNOU’s Online Project Management System (OPMS) guidelines for the December 2026 term-end examination, which we read on 2 November 2026, set 11:59 PM that day as the upload deadline, say no extension will be given, and ask for the project fee to be paid in Samarth before the upload. A report that goes in by then falls in the 1 June to 30 November window that the handbook links to December term-end results.

The proposal has no such deadline. Section 6 of the handbook asks January-session learners to send it by 30 April and July-session learners by 31 October, for timely completion, and then says proposals are accepted throughout the year.

The question we hear most from MAUS learners this month is whether 30 November is a synopsis date or a report date. For MEDSP-045 it is the report upload deadline; the proposal follows its own track to SOEDS, and the report has to carry the approved proforma.

Many MEDSP-045 students hold back because they expect IGNOU to push the date by a month. The December 2026 OPMS guidelines rule out an extension in plain words, so a MAUS learner who plans around one is planning around nothing.

We also meet MAUS students who intend to send the proposal and the report together at the end, without the supervisor’s signature. MEDSP-045 runs in two stages: the signed proposal packet reaches SOEDS first, and the report comes only after approval.

Five printed MEDSP 45 project sets on this shelf

After approval, MAUS learners often tell us they cannot picture a finished MEDSP-045 report. A printed set answers that in an evening: how the pages run, how tables sit, where the appendices go. The writing still has to be your own.

Project or MEDSE-046: deciding the Year I elective

Choosing the IGNOU MAUS Project is optional. The July 2026 Common Prospectus (section 3.48) sets MAUS at 64 credits. Year I has four compulsory 6-credit courses, MEDS-041 to MEDS-044, plus one 8-credit elective: MEDSP-045 Project Work or MEDSE-046 Development: Issues and Perspectives. In Year II you choose any 32 credits from MEDS-047, MEDS-048, MEDS-049, MHI-10 and MPA-016, each worth 8.

PGDUPDL holders who join MAUS Year II

The MAUS programme page allows PGDUPDL completers lateral entry to Year II through credit transfer. PGDUPDL (prospectus section 8.19) has the same Year I list, so those learners finished the project-or-theory choice inside the diploma and do not meet MEDSP-045 again in MAUS.

MEDS-045, MEDSP-045 or MEDSP 45?

They are one course. The prospectus prints MEDSP-045 for MAUS and MEDSP 45 for PGDUPDL, the handbook uses MEDSP-045, and the MAUS programme page lists it as MEDS-045 Project Work (Elective). On an envelope or a cover page, use MEDSP-045, the form the handbook asks for.

MAUS learners weighing the two electives often tell us that choosing a topic worries them most, and that no class teaches how to write a MEDSP-045 proposal. Section 6 and Annexure I of the handbook come closest to that missing class, and both are taken apart below.

A PGDUPDL handbook in a MAUS learner’s hands

The IGNOU MAUS Project rests on a file written for another programme. The handbook’s introduction describes PGDUPDL as six courses where four 6-credit theory courses are compulsory and the learner adds either a theory course or an 8-credit project to reach 32 credits. eGyanKosh files MEDSP-045 Project Work (Elective) under the MAUS first-year community too, so IGNOU treats it as the same course. The table shows where the 2013 wording and a 2026 MAUS learner part ways.

Students on MEDSP-045 often have no idea whom to write to when a month or two passes without word on the proposal. For MAUS, the July 2026 prospectus names the programme coordinators: Prof. Nehal A Farooquee (nafarooquee@ignou.ac.in, 011-29571664) and Dr. Grace Don Nemching (gdnemching@ignou.ac.in, 011-29571669).

IGNOU MAUS project topics: Annexure I sorted by method

Annexure I lists 30 sample topics and says they are there to give ideas; you are not limited to them. Read against Section 3, which advises MEDSP-045 learners to use a case study or a survey, the IGNOU MAUS project topics fall into four groups by the word each one opens with.

Two Annexure I names that changed after 2013

Use the current name in your title and keep the older name for the review of literature, where the history of the scheme belongs.

A common worry among MAUS learners is that the MEDSP-045 title must copy an Annexure I line exactly. The annexure says the opposite: its 30 topics are prompts, and a focused title of your own is allowed.

Evaluators often return proposals asking that the study be placed in the learner’s own city. Annexure I already leans that way, since most of its MEDSP-045 topics end in “any City / Town”, which is an open invitation to name yours.

Seven tests for a MEDSP-045 title before your supervisor sees it

Section 6(1) gives seven points to weigh before an IGNOU MAUS Project topic is fixed. We have added what each means for a city-based study.

1. Suitability of the topic: can it be answered by one case or one sample, in about 10,000 words?
2. Relevance to urban planning and development: a rural or purely national topic fails this first test.
3. Time at your disposal: a survey with interviews in several wards needs weeks, not days.
4. Feasibility of data collection within the time limit: will a municipal office or NGO share records with a student?
5. Challenges in data collection and how you will meet them: write this down; it later feeds the Limitations heading.
6. Cost of data collection: travel, printing questionnaires, phone calls.
7. Communication facilities and local language: respondents in the language you can interview in.

Many students post the MEDSP-045 synopsis in the final week before the target date. Running these seven tests a month ahead of 30 April or 31 October is what keeps a MAUS proposal out of that last-week rush.

Case study or survey: the two routes MEDSP 45 allows

Section 3 says various methods exist but advises MEDSP-045 learners to use a case study or a survey, and Sections 4 and 5 explain both at length. MEDS-044, the Year I course on monitoring and evaluation, carries the background: its Block 3 covers measurement and sampling, and its Block IV covers data collection, analysis and report writing.

For surveys, Section 5.6 compares three routes. In local telephone surveys six to seven calls per number are customary. A mail survey needs a pre-tested questionnaire, an advance letter, a reminder postcard and a follow-up after three weeks; a 60 to 90 percent return is treated as satisfactory. A personal survey suits low-literacy groups but needs trained interviewers and a supervisor on call.

Many MEDSP-045 proposals that reach us lean only on secondary data: census tables, municipal budgets, scheme dashboards. Section 5.4 does recognise a secondary survey, but it also calls a primary survey far more reliable, so a MAUS learner using only published figures should say why in the methodology.

Who may supervise an IGNOU MAUS project?

An IGNOU MAUS project needs a supervisor whom SOEDS accepts. Section 6(2) lists five routes.

A counsellor must state which courses they counsel, since when, and the name and code of their study centre. If SOEDS does not accept the supervisor, or you change supervisor later, the handbook treats it as a new proposal, signed by the new supervisor on a fresh proforma. IGNOU pays the supervisor a token honorarium of Rs 300, claimed on the Annexure IV bill after or along with the report, and the supervisor can give you a letter of authorisation for data collection (the study centre or Regional Centre can also issue one).

Most supervisor trouble we see on MEDSP-045 starts with a guide picked before anyone read routes (a) to (e). A Masters holder with less than two years of experience, for example, sits outside route (e).

MAUS learners often ask their study centre coordinator for a supervisor and come away without one. The MEDSP-045 handbook describes no allotment at the study centre; it lists who is eligible, the learner proposes a name, and SOEDS accepts or refuses it.

Some students then approach a relative or a family contact with a postgraduate degree. That works for MEDSP-045 only when the person fits route (c), (d) or (e) and its subject list, so check eligibility before asking for a signature; a supervisor SOEDS turns down means a fresh proposal.

The supervisor bio-data line that stops proposals

Annexure II carries a warning in plain type: if the complete, signed bio-data of the supervisor is not enclosed, the proposal will not be entertained, even when the supervisor is an academic counsellor of the programme. Proposal note 3(b) lists what the bio-data must show: date of birth, full office and residential addresses with telephone numbers, academic qualifications with the year of passing, and work experience with designation and organisation, all signed by the supervisor.

We have seen proposals come back when the supervisor’s bio-data carried no stamp or no working ID. The MEDSP-045 handbook asks for a detailed, signed bio-data rather than a stamp, but a sheet that lets SOEDS confirm the person exists is the safer one to post.

When a supervisor asks for several rounds of changes, a MEDSP-045 proposal can slip by weeks. MAUS learners who allow for that before the 30 April or 31 October target are the ones who do not end up rushing.

MEDSP 45 project synopsis: seven headings and what goes under each

The handbook uses “proposal” and “synopsis” for the same document; proposal note 4 even speaks of the synopsis of your project proposal. Section 6 names seven headings for the MEDSP 45 project synopsis and sets no page limit. For writing a strong IGNOU MAUS Project proposal, it points you to Block I of MEDS-044, Project Formulation and Management.

The proposal list has no review of literature heading, yet the report earns 15 marks for one. A short paragraph on earlier studies inside the Introduction gives the evaluator a reason to trust your problem statement.

IGNOU MAUS project synopsis sample PDF: four checks before you rely on one

Students search for an IGNOU MAUS project synopsis sample PDF more than for anything else on this course. The sets on this page are printed rather than PDF; the same four checks apply to any sample. Does it use the seven MEDSP-045 headings rather than another course’s list? Does its methodology name locale, sampling, instruments and statistical tools? Is it plainly a case study or a survey? Are the scheme names current?

Many MEDSP-045 proposals we read miss a core heading, most often Research Methodology or Objectives. The handbook prints the seven headings twice, in Section 6 and again in the proposal notes, so a MAUS learner can tick them off before posting.

In many proposals the studies discussed in the introduction are missing from the reference list, or the list carries books the text does not mention. On a MAUS proposal that mismatch shows quickly, because References is a heading of its own.

Proposals come back when the rationale or the questionnaire is missing. For MEDSP-045, Annexure V later marks the report’s Introduction “with Objectives and Rationale”, and a survey proposal reads stronger with the draft schedule attached.

Annexure II, filled line by line

Annexure II, the Proforma for Approval of Project Proposal (MEDSP-045), is one page. Every box below is on the printed form.

Many MAUS students are unsure what “the proforma” means. For MEDSP-045 it is Annexure II; some leave it out of the envelope, and others post a form taken from another course.

Half-filled forms are common: the supervisor’s address incomplete, and now and then the student’s own address or enrolment number missing from the MEDSP-045 proforma.

A blank Title of the Project box is enough for SOEDS to send a MAUS proposal back, and it happens more often than students expect.

Posting the MEDSP-045 proposal packet to SOEDS

The IGNOU MAUS Project proposal travels as one packet to the School, not to your study centre or Regional Centre.

MAUS learners often ask which papers go in and whether the MEDSP-045 proposal should be bound or filed. The handbook lists the three items above and sets no binding for the proposal.

Many students keep no proof of posting. For a MEDSP-045 packet sent by registered or speed post, that receipt is your only record until SOEDS allots a P.P. No.

Students also ask whether the proposal goes to the study centre or the Regional Centre. For MEDSP-045 the answer is neither: the handbook sends it to the SOEDS coordinator at Maidan Garhi, so a MAUS packet handed in anywhere else is outside the route it prints.

Six weeks for a written reply, by e-mail and post

Section 6(4) promises a written communication on approval or non-approval within six weeks of the proposal reaching the School, sent by e-mail and by post. SOEDS judges the proposal and the supervisor separately, as the office boxes on Annexure II show, and allots a P.P. No. (Project Proposal Number) that you quote in every later letter about your IGNOU MAUS Project.

In our experience approval can take two to three months to reach students, longer than the six weeks the MEDSP-045 handbook names. A MAUS learner who posts at the end of October should plan to hear only in December or January.

Most MEDSP-045 approvals we see arrive with correction or modification points rather than a plain yes.

The correction we meet most often asks for a more current review of literature; for a MAUS topic that means recent studies on the same city or the same scheme.

When SOEDS returns the proposal

A non-approved MEDSP-045 proposal comes back with comments for reworking it. Section 6(5) asks for five things in the resubmission:

1. The revised project proposal
2. A revised proposal proforma
3. A copy of the rejected proposal
4. The proforma bearing the evaluator’s comments
5. The P.P. No. already allotted

Many students resubmit only the revised MEDSP-045 proposal and leave the rejected one at home. The handbook asks for both, with the commented proforma and the P.P. No., so the evaluator can see what changed.

We have seen MAUS learners wait for an approval letter that did not arrive before the session ran out. Six weeks after posting, write to the SOEDS coordinators with your enrolment number and, if you have one, the P.P. No.

Approval for MEDSP-045 often comes with comments to build into the report, and many learners file the letter away unread. The approved proforma with those comments goes into the report’s appendix, in front of the examiner.

Fieldwork in a city: letters, sampling and a pilot

Fieldwork for an IGNOU MAUS Project usually means a municipal office, a ward, a slum settlement, a bus depot or an NGO. Three handbook points help. Your supervisor, study centre or Regional Centre can give a letter of authorisation for collecting data. Section 5.4 recommends a pilot survey before the final one, to test the schedule and learn about the respondents. Section 5.5 sets the interview manners: participation is voluntary, answers stay confidential, questions are read as written, and the interviewer keeps opinions to herself or himself.

Many reports reach the binding stage without the questionnaire, yet the MEDSP-045 appendix list starts with the interview schedule or questionnaire. Keep the final blank version from your field days.

Some MAUS learners bind the whole pile of filled questionnaires at the back. The handbook asks for the schedule or questionnaire used, a blank copy is the common practice, and filled forms hold answers that Section 5 asks you to keep confidential.

100 marks in Annexure V, and a word plan to match

An IGNOU MAUS Project report is marked out of 100 by an external examiner whom the Student Evaluation Division picks from a list SOEDS approves. You need at least 40 of the 100 marks. The handbook describes no viva.

Outdated literature reviews are a weakness we see often in reports, and in our experience they cost marks. In MEDSP-045 the review carries its own 15 marks, so its age shows directly on the examiner’s sheet.

In many reports the data analysis cannot carry the objectives it was meant to answer. Results and discussion is the largest block in the MEDSP-045 scheme, and a thin survey shows there first.

Some reports run well past the length the guidelines set and come back. The MEDSP-045 ceiling is about 10,000 words without appendices, which the permitted variation turns into roughly 9,000 to 11,000.

IGNOU MEDSP 45 project format: one page order from two lists

The handbook describes the IGNOU MEDSP 45 project format twice. Section 7(1) lists Title, Introduction, Objectives, Problem Statement, Research Methodology, Results and Discussion, Summary, Limitations and References. The “Format for Project Report” list adds an originality certificate, acknowledgement, contents, review of literature, conclusion, suggestions and appendices. For an IGNOU MAUS Project report, this order uses both.

On spacing, the file disagrees with itself. Section 7(1) speaks of 40 to 50 double-spaced typed pages, while report note 2 asks for typing in 1.5 space. The word ceiling is the firmer rule; choose one spacing and hold it through the whole report.

Page order is among the questions we are asked most at the binding table for MEDSP-045, largely because the handbook prints two lists that do not match.

Reference lists that mix styles turn up often in the reports we print. MEDSP-045 sets APA, listed alphabetically, and the handbook even prints sample entries for a book, a journal article, a book chapter and a website.

IGNOU MAUS project hard copy: paper, binding and signatures

The printed IGNOU MAUS project hard copy follows report notes 1 to 4. The language is English. The report is the original, on A-4 paper (the handbook prints the size as 29 x 20 cm), typed in 1.5 space and bound as a volume. Keep a copy, because IGNOU does not return the report. Even for the December 2026 upload, the PDF is scanned from this signed original, so the paper copy still has to exist. Your supervisor may send the Annexure IV honorarium bill along with or after the report.

Some students still choose spiral binding for the final report. The MEDSP-045 handbook asks for the report in a bound volume.

Reports reach us with the originality certificate signed by the student but not by the supervisor. Annexure III in the MEDSP-045 handbook carries a signature, place and date line for each of them.

Many MAUS reports come back short of a document the handbook lists: the approved proforma and proposal, the supervisor’s bio-data, the signed originality certificate, or the student’s details on the first page. Each one is named in Section 7 of the MEDSP-045 handbook or its format list.

Posting to SED or uploading on OPMS for December 2026

The handbook was written for a posted IGNOU MAUS Project report. The December 2026 cycle runs online, and the two routes differ on almost every point.

First page lines for a MAUS upload

The handbook’s own title page also asks for your address and the year; keeping both does no harm.

Some students e-mail the finished report to an IGNOU address. The December 2026 OPMS guidelines say e-mailed reports are not considered, so a MEDSP-045 report sent that way does not count for the cycle.

Many MAUS learners do not know how many copies to send, or where. The MEDSP-045 handbook asks for one typed copy to the Registrar (SED); for December 2026 the answer is one PDF upload and no paper copy.

Some students skip the receipt. Whichever route your MEDSP-045 cycle uses, keep proof: the postal receipt and P.R. No. for a posted report, a saved acknowledgement of the upload for OPMS.

Rs 500 fee, the P.R. No. and when results come

The July 2026 Common Prospectus (section 1.17) sets the project evaluation fee at Rs 300 for courses up to 4 credits and Rs 500 above that, so an IGNOU MAUS Project at 8 credits costs Rs 500. For December 2026, the SED notice on the project fee gives 30 November 2026 as the last date, paid through Samarth, and OPMS takes the upload only after the fee.

For a posted report, SED allots a P.R. No. (Project Report Number) and you quote it in every letter to the Division about the report.

The two fee amounts confuse many students. MEDSP-045 carries 8 credits, so it falls in the Rs 500 slab, not the Rs 300 one meant for courses of up to 4 credits.

MAUS learners regularly ask whether a viva follows the report. The MEDSP-045 handbook describes none: Annexure V is a written evaluation of five parts by an external examiner, although the OPMS guidelines mention a viva wherever a course requires one.

Reading a printed MAUS set without borrowing it

A printed set from this shelf is a study reference for your IGNOU MAUS Project, not a document to submit. It shows how a MEDSP-045 proposal and report can be organised; your topic, your city, your data, your analysis and your signed certificates have to be your own. SOEDS decides approval and IGNOU’s examiner decides marks.

Proposals built from widely shared material, or from one common outside source, end up with the same topic as other students’ work, and duplicate topics are a frequent reason MEDSP-045 proposals return. A city, ward or scheme of your own is the simplest way out.

Many students lift passages from websites into the MEDSP-045 report without checking them for plagiarism. Annexure III asks you and your supervisor to certify the report as original work, so what you sign should be what you wrote.

Some learners hand in an AI-written MAUS proposal or report as it stands, which is another reason the same urban topics keep repeating from student to student.

Late starts, AI drafts and survey data you did not collect

Three habits damage a Master of Arts in Urban Studies project more than any formatting slip, and each has a plain fix in the MEDSP-045 handbook.

Many MAUS learners leave the MEDSP-045 proposal so late that no time remains to write it themselves. Starting the seven topic tests of Section 6 a month earlier removes most of that pressure.

We also see proposals drafted with ChatGPT or another AI tool by students who had not opened the MEDSP-045 handbook; the draft follows a generic research template instead of the seven headings and the case study or survey methods the course asks for.

Some reports build the results chapter on assumed figures with no survey behind them. In MEDSP-045, results and discussion should report what your own schedule or case visit produced, and Annexure III, which you sign, calls the work your original work.

IGNOU MAUS project questions we are asked

Five MEDSP-045 moves for this week

1. Confirm you chose MEDSP-045 and not MEDSE-046 as your Year I elective.
2. Pick a topic in a city you can reach, starting from Annexure I and the seven tests.
3. Fix a supervisor who fits one of routes (a) to (e) and collect the signed bio-data.
4. Post Annexure II, the bio-data and the proposal to SOEDS with MEDSP-045 on the envelope.
5. If an approved report is ready for this cycle, pay the Rs 500 fee in Samarth and upload by 30 November 2026.

The IGNOU MAUS Project rewards an early start more than any other Year I course, because approval alone can take weeks. For the theory courses alongside it, see MAUS books, MAUS solved assignments and MAUS guess papers. If you want one-to-one help with a draft you have written yourself, see our customised project service.

Files behind this MEDSP-045 page

shrichakradhar.com is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with, authorised by or endorsed by IGNOU. The printed MEDSP-045 sets on this page are study reference material, not for submission as your own work: you remain the author of your proposal and report, SOEDS decides approval and IGNOU’s examiner decides marks.