University of California, Los Angeles is launching a Master of Real Estate Development program, or MRED, in partnership with the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs in an effort to produce more thoughtful and community-driven real estate leaders, according to a release.
“Real estate impacts so much of our lives,” Greg Morrow, founding executive director for the UCLA MRED program, said. “And if we can create a new generation of real estate professionals that marry their expertise in real estate – whether that be in development and asset management, finance and consulting, advisory services, you name it – with a purpose, with the idea that real estate done well, we can actually generate an enormous community (and economic) benefit.”
Morrow himself is a UCLA graduate and, before coming back to campus to head the university’s real estate program, he started Pepperdine University’s own real estate program back in 2017 and, most recently, led University of California, Berkeley’s for over six years.
UCLA is the second UC school to offer a Master of Real Estate program, behind UC Berkeley, which established its program in 2018. Unlike the other programs Morrow has previously been involved with, he said UCLA is the only to operate on the quarter system and, due to Los Angeles being a major metropolitan city, will likely have much broader and more ambitious goals.
“We are leveraging the fact that we are in probably the best urban laboratory to learn real estate, where we have the unique aspects of it being intimately tied with the industry,” Morrow said. “This should be one of the best, if not the best, program for learning real estate in the world.”
The program comes when UCLA has been very active in its own real estate endeavors.
Last year, it acquired the former Westside Pavilion Mall for $700 million. Other recent acquisitions include the Trust Building downtown and the former Marymount California University campus in Rancho Palos Verdes.
“I don’t think it was a direct catalyst,” Morrow said on the university’s decision to establish a master’s program. “But now that that’s happened, it’s an interesting opportunity for the university to be launching a real estate program because we can actually help the university think through different strategies.”
While the program is open to people of all different backgrounds, Morrow said it’s most fit for those who wish to have a purposeful and impactful career.
He said the curriculum will dive into themes that challenge students to think critically, including topics such as climate change’s impact on real estate to issues like rising inequality, gentrification and displacement, what will happen with post-pandemic work, and international trade concerns, among others.
Most courses will be taught by industry professionals. Morrow expects the first cohort to be between 20 and 25 students, although he hopes this number will grow to 40 over time.