Abstract:
This is an attempt to present the views of eminent academicians representing different regions of Asia, namely, the Middle East, South Asia and South East Asia, on the status of GIS education in their respective countries.
In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, GIS courses and training programmes are offered by research-intensive government agencies and universities. The community colleges do not offer GIS courses at all. In South Asia, India is the undisputed leader in GIS education and training among the SAARC nations. Most of the degree courses on geoinformatics are offered by universities in South India, while in North India, GIS is generally taught as part of Geography, Geology, Urban Planning, Civil Engineering etc. Today, GIS education has become extremely important in the South East Asian countries, especially for management and monitoring of natural disasters like tsunami, earthquakes, floods and landslides that have become endemic to the region.
The all-pervading view, therefore, is that GIS will soon become an integral part of the school and college level curriculum. The geospatial industry, in turn, is expected to grow at a rapid pace with the influx of trained GIS professionals in the coming years.
The following are the views expressed by
Dr. M.M Yagoub, Prof. M.S Nathawat, Dr. Phisan Santitamnont and Prof. Mohd Ibrahim Seeni Mohd on the status of GIS education in their respective countries.
- Comment on the status of remote sensing and GIS education in your region/country?
- Is there any governmental support for GIS Education in your region in the form of grants?
- Is GIS Education affordable for the average income family student?
Dr. M.M Yagoub: Currently, there are three public universities and more than ten private universities in the UAE. The public UAE University was the first one to establish a GIS program in the Department of Geography in 1999. Many other Universities such as the Higher College of Technology, Zayed University, Ajman University, American University in Dubai, American University in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and Al Hosn are starting to incorporate directly or indirectly GIS in their curriculum e.g. as part of Urban Planning and Surveying Engineering or a module with IT Courses.
There is strong support from the government to the GIS education and this is clear from the diffusion of GIS across the country. The main reason behind this support is the high demand for more professionals trained in GIS by governmental and private employers.
The undergraduate GIS education in the UAE is available to average income family students "almost free of cost" provided that the student has scored well in the high school certificate examination (70% and above), is good in English, and has basic IT skills. It is almost a similar situation across the region. The "Master of Remote Sensing and GIS" programme in UAE is expensive for average income family students. However, students receive grants from the government to cover the tuition fee.
Prof. M.S Nathawat: I consider that GIS education in India is at a young stage and it is gradually approaching towards maturity as more and more educational institutes are offering degrees in this field. One can find a wide spectrum of courses being offered by the universities such as B.E./M.E.Geoinformatics, M.Tech.Remote Sensing, M.Tech.GIS, M.Sc.GIS, M.Sc.Geoinformatics, M.Sc.Remote Sensing & GIS, B.Sc.GIS etc. apart from number of diploma and certificate courses offered by more than 40 universities in India.
Governmental support to GIS education is provided by grants under various schemes of University Grants Commission (UGS) & Department of Science and Technology under FIST, SAP, and other innovative programmes. Department of Space, under its NNRMS programme, also offers courses /trainings in RS-GIS to university teachers.
GIS education is affordable for the average income family students. Many institutes also offer fellowships/scholarships to the needy students. They also have a wide choice of universities and institutes for selecting a course suitable to their qualifications as well as resources, which were not available even a decade ago in India.
Dr. Phisan Santitamnont:There has been tremendous advancement in the development of Remote Sensing and GIS in Thailand. Aerial photographs for the whole of Thailand are available at the scale of 1:25,000. A new curriculum on GIS has been designed for students. More courses on computers and GIS have been introduced for students. A compulsory course on Geospatial Database is running at the university level.
Government grants are not available towards GIS education to a great degree. The government agencies are supporting GIS education through Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA).
GIS education is quite affordable for students in Thailand. Most of the GIS courses are taught in government universities. But, for students who come from a sound economic background, private universities also offer GIS courses. The cost of GIS education in private sector is nearly five times higher than that of government-run universities in Thailand.
Prof. Mohd Ibrahim Seeni Mohd: In Malaysia, UTM is the only university that offers B.Sc. programmes in remote sensing and Geoinformatics. In other universities, remote sensing and GIS are offered as subjects in their Bachelor and Diploma programmes. For postgraduate programmes, five universities offer M.Sc. and PhD programmes in these fields. I think the present state of education is satisfactory.
2. What are the career prospects after completing the education in geomatics, remote sensing and GIS courses?
Dr. M.M Yagoub: There is a steady growing trend of employment including as GIS analysts and geographical and environmental specialists in utility management, town planning, telecommunication, oil industry, transportation, military, and policing. In addition to this , graduates are also working in the field of education such Geography teachers, GIS instructors, and lecturers.
Prof. M.S Nathawat:As awareness in geoinformatics utilizations, almost in all sectors, is increasing day by day, so are the career prospects.
Dr. Phisan Santitamnont:The prospects for GIS professionals are good. Many GIS projects have been launched by the government agencies and provincial authorities, creating demand for GIS experts. The participation of Thailand in GEOSS through GISTDA has given rise to the demand for satellite data archives and services, value added image-maps and web-based satellite data browsing system.
Prof. Mohd Ibrahim Seeni Mohd: The number of students who enroll into our programmes are in line with the requirements of the job market. Graduates in Geomatics have no problems in getting jobs since this course is an established professional course and has been offered for the past 35 years. However, Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics courses are fairly new and the market has only started to grow over the last 15 years. As far as the trend goes, most of the graduates do not face much difficulty in getting jobs in various government agencies, local authorities and private sectors since these sectors have started to implement projects that utilize remote sensing and GIS related technologies.
3.Are there training institutes run by either private or government agencies? If yes, are the courses affordable for the common student?
4.Dr. M.M Yagoub: There are a number of private companies that run short courses in remote sensing and GIS. However, prices of the courses are considered too high for any body not under sponsorship.Examples of these companies include Hansa Luftbild, Hyder ACER, GISTEC, Global Scanning Technology, International Surveying and Mapping, Khatib and Alami, MAPS GeoSystems, NorPlan, Scott Wilson, Bentley Middle East, Intergraph Middle East, and Space Imaging Middle East. With the development of Internet, more and more institutes worldwide have started to offer degrees in geo-science through distance learning programmes.
Prof. M.S Nathawat: Number of educational/training institutes is increasing in the country. The cost of training at private institutes is high compared to the universities.
4. Would you like to suggest any policy that may give impetus to remote sensing and GIS education?
Dr. M.M Yagoub: In UAE there are a good number of graduates with a Bachelor's Degree. Soon (by the end of 2007) there will be a moderate number with Master's Degree in Remote Sensing and GIS. Based on this reality I suggest starting a one year Diploma and an introduction to remote sensing and GIS course at the school level.
Prof. M.S Nathawat:Two steps are required to promote and develop GIS education in India.
- Development of a uniform course curriculum.
- Increase in Government support and encouragement for use of GIS in all its departments so that a real demand for trained human resources be created .
Dr. Phisan Santitamnont: GISTDA and ITC, Netherlands should together promote courses on geoinformatics. Open Source GIS softwares need to be encouraged. There is also a need to develop new courses for creating a geospatial database.
Prof. Mohd Ibrahim Seeni Mohd: In order to operationalize remote sensing and GIS technologies successfully in various agencies, we need well trained graduates who are capable in implementing these technologies in the related fields. In order to attract more students to pursue degree programmes in these fields, the career path for these graduates should be established by creating posts/ schemes especially in the government sector.
5. What were the encouraging or detrimental factors towards educational initiatives taken in your country?
Dr. M.M Yagoub: An important factor affecting on penetration of remote sensing and GIS in the UAE is the economy. The revenues from oil has put UAE in a better position than other developing nations for laying down the infrastructure for remote sensing and GIS (hardware, software, data, salary, etc.).
Privatisation of some governmental departments in the UAE also affects the penetration of geo-science. Management authorities in these departments recognized the potential for the use of geo-science as a system that provides integration framework, expedites customer services, makes the information database more accessible, provides a strong foundation for executive decision support, and has the ability to help in achieving privatisation objectives. The revolution in geo-science has created a demand for GIS professionals not only worldwide but also in the UAE.
Prof. M.S Nathawat:UGC, DST and ISRO are supporting the development of capacity building in this sector. The future looks bright. The detrimental factors are the slow changing mindset and low adaptability of the technology by a section of government employees and policy makers, who are apprehensive because of the transparency provided by this technology using which anyone can evaluate and monitor the progress of development.
Dr. Phisan Santitamnont: In Thailand, there has been a lot of promotion for Open Source GIS software. It has evolved a lot in the past year especially due to the involvement of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). An International Conference is to be organized in 2008 on the theme of Open Source GIS.
6. What is the Future of GIS Education?
Dr. M.M Yagoub: Introduction of remote sensing and GIS in the UAE is a part of global geo-science revolution as well as the result of a regional impact by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Remote sensing and GIS are not isolated islands, but affected by other factors like computer literacy, Internet, and awareness about the technology. Schools in the UAE are starting to introduce computers in their classes, which will have a direct impact on remote sensing and GIS. With Web-GIS such as Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Earth, andWikimapia, it is expected that GIS education will reach a large portion of the society through schools, colleges and universities. A series of conferences and seminars organized by UAE University, Military Survey Department, GISTEC-ESRI Middle East, GIS Development and Dubai Municipality provided good opportunity for interaction and exchange of ideas thereby increasing public awareness about GIS. Some academic institutes in the UAE are now offering degrees in remote sensing and GIS.
Prof. M.S Nathawat:The need for capacity building and development of human resources in geoinformatics education India cannot be overemphasized as geospatial information is definitely the sine-qua-non for sustainable national development. The GIS industry at large demands a critical number of well-trained persons at all levels in a reasonable time frame. Hence, it is a right time for policy makers to think and keep up pace with the demand and development of the technology. The increasing support by the appropriate agencies, will lead to more universities coming forward to establish new departments and courses in geoinformatics. Indian policy makers & geoinformatics practitioners must be well prepared to face the challenges of the new knowledge-driven millennium, where knowledge of Geoinformatics will be the driving force behind the overall socio-economic development of the nation.
Dr. Phisan Santitamnont: GIS will play a more important role in education and development in Thailand. Google Earth has made a big impact in Thailand. People are now more aware about maps and satellite imageries. The Digital Thailand programme initiated by GISTDA to provide content for Google Earth will create demand for geography and GIS. There is also a GIS Master Plan for Thailand in the pipeline which would be a foundation for the country's spatial data infrastructure will encourage students to take up courses in geoinformatics. Ministry of Education is taking steps to build GIS into the high school curriculum within the ambit of geography.