A Systematic Approach in Remote Sensing Education and Training at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2.1.1 Curriculum
The curriculum of Bachelor of Science (Remote Sensing) was modified by UTM upon the consent of National Remote Sensing Committee (NRSC) and also based on the curriculum of similar programs at over sea institutions. A total of 128 credits are needed in order to fulfill the requirements to be awarded the Degree of Bachelor of Science (Remote Sensing). The credits come from 7 study sections. The composition of the study sections is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Subjects and the corresponding credits for the B.Sc (Remote Sensing) course at UTM.
| Course subjects | Number of subjects | Number of credits | Percentage |
| Main core remote sensing | 6 | 24 | 18.7 |
| Core Remote Sensing | 15 | 45 | 35.2 |
| Science of Mapping and Surveying | 2 | 6 | 4.7 |
| Computer Science | 3 | 9 | 7.0 |
| Mathematics, Physics and Statistics | 4 | 12 | 9.4 |
| Selective subjects (subjects 3m) | 3 | 9 | 7.0 |
| General subjects | 12 | 23 | 18.0 |
| Total | 45 | 128 | 100 |
Source: Department of Remote Sensing, 2000.
Integration of remote sensing with other related technologies/ disciplines such as GIS, photogrammetry and computer science also essential to acquire complete benefits of this technology. However, in most universities in Malaysia the separation between remote sensing and GIS departments are apparent and the students from the Department of Remote Sensing are not well exposed to the technology of GIS and students in GIS programs do not receive enough knowledge and sufficient training in image processing. Therefore, knowledge fusion between GIS and remote sensing or photogrammetry needs to be conducted and all students from both departments must be exposed to the technologies at undergraduate levels. However, students can be given choice to select either one of these technologies or integration of both during their final year projects. In this way, upon the completion of their studies the students will have a complete knowledge fusion of remote sensing and related technologies and skill which ensures prospective job opportunities.
2.1.2 Training
Training provides the students with practical skill that can be used to solve problems in the real world. Remote sensing at undergraduate levels rely on a mixture of theory and practical applications. Weekly laboratory exercises for every subject are designed to complement recent lecture topics in order to create a seamless teaching environment. The classroom training objectives for students include the development of skills in the use of remote sensing data for the purpose of: knowledge of image acquisition methods, data merging, image rectification, image enhancement, image classification, and image algebra, the use GIS including the knowledge of the characteristics of spatial data and spatial data handling systems, data acquisition, analytical operations and construction of output products, analysing remotely sensed data and applying GIS tools to address issues in natural resource management and environmental monitoring.
At the Department of Remote Sensing, UTM, laboratory assignments are conducted using imagery from the local region so that students will be familiar with the study sites and encouraged to conduct necessary ground truthing. Besides that, students are also trained to use data collecting equipments like radiometer and hand held GPS or other conventional methods of data collecting such as boat for oceonographic applications.
The final year (4
th year) students in this course will also be participated in independent undergraduate projects which carry 5 credits towards the end of the semester. This requirement encourages students to experiment the learnt theory and remotely sensed imagery or GIS techniques to topics of personal interest to them. In addition, the department has also arranged industrial training for students besides the classroom practical/ laboratory training. This industrial training is formulated to expose students to the aspects of remote sensing, GIS and other related technologies that are practiced in government departments and private sectors, to give opportunity to students to experience the real working environment, to relate both the learning process and the real working environment and to have a good relationship between university and industries with the objective to have job placement for students upon the completion of their course.
The training locations are at government or private departments/ agencies that have the application of remote sensing in their daily activities. This includes, the utilization and extraction of geospatial data using remote sensing data, integration of remote sensing with GIS technology and other related technologies. Among the agencies/ departments are; the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing, Department of Agriculture, Department of Forestry, Department of Meteorology, South East Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC), Department of Environment, Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), Institute of Mineral Research, Institute of Fishery, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia and other private companies.
2.2 Graduate Course
In addition to the 4 year undergraduate programme the department also offers Master (both by Research and Taught Course) and Doctoral programmes in Remote Sensing to support the needs of the country in this field. Currently, there are 13 graduate students had registered and undertaking their research in various fields. At present, only master course through research and PhD are available at the department. Master through taught course requires a minimum of 5 candidates to start the course. The specification of the postgraduate courses at the department is summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. The requirements for M.Sc and PhD at the Department of Remote Sensing, UTM
| Requirements | M.Sc (Taught course) | M.Sc (Research) | PhD |
| Admission requirement | A relevant bachelor degree recognized by the university | A relevant bachelor degree recognized by the university | A relevant master degree recognized by the university |
| Total credit hours | 24 (taught subjects)
6(master's project) | 30 | 90 |
| Subjects | Courses offered within interfaculties | Own thesis topic | Own thesis topic |
| Study Period (years) | 2 | 2 | 3-4 |
Some of the present research works by the students areas follow : Mapping topography using SAR Interferometry techniques, Extraction of coastal zone information using SAR, Potentional of Radar data for estimation of soil moisture, Remote sensing and Hydrological modeling in flood prediction studies, Extraction of sea grass information, Remote sensing for sea Oil spill studies, Haze determination from NOAA AVHRR, Landsat TM and Radarsat SAR data Fusion for improving landcover classification and GIS for oil spill monitoring.
