GIS@development September 2000; International Workshop on Earth Observation Education and Training

Committee on Earth Observation Satellite (CEOS) is a concept and consensus opinion of about 41 members mainly from space agencies of various countries and other institutes all over the world. The 14th CEOS Plenary meeting was held in Stockholm from 10-12 November 1999. During this plenary, an ad-hoc Working Group on Education (WG-Edu) was set up. Keeping in view, that education holds the key to future space technology development and its applications, the first meeting of this working group on Earth Observation (EO) Education and Training was held at Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (NRSA), Dehradun, India on 11th August, 2000.

This workshop was organised by CEOS working group on Education and Training (WG-Edu) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India and was sponsored by Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), The Netherlands, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN-OOSA), Austria, Centre for Space Science and Technology Education – Asia Pacific (CSSTE-AP), India and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), India.

About 29 delegates from 7 countries have participated in the workshop. The international participants were mainly from National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA, Centre for Remote Sensing, Canada, German Space Agency (DLR), ITC, The Netherlands, French Space Agency (CNES), France and GDTA, France, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand and NASDA, Japan. The Indian participants were from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Centre for Space Science and Technology Education – Asia Pacific (CSSTE-AP), and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS). In addition to the above, India was represented by 4 universities which are involved in the Earth Observation (EO) education and training in India. During this workshop, about 20 technical presentations were made on the following topics. They are:

EO Education and Training – the need for international coordination.
Space Agency Efforts in EO Education and Training.
Institutional programme in EO Education and Training.
Debate on EO Education and Training.

Towards the end of the workshop there was a panel discussionon “Road Map for EO Education and Training Activities”.

Recommendations

Need for effective coordination mechanism of the EO Education and Training. Efforts should be made, for example, space agencies could develop/promote material, teaching aids and also EO data to strengthen the educational institutes which are offering programmes on EO Education.
To keep pace with the technology trends and application needs, educational institutions need to update the curricula on a regular basis and also exchange of curricular information. The curriculum design should take into consideration the region dependent socio-economic constraints to the adoption of space-based technologies at the local level and emphasise on more large and community awareness of the potential benefits of “EO”.
Institutions and Universities to consider tailor-made customised training programmes for professionals to support application needs. University systems may formalise the educational programmes leading to the award of degree/diplomas.
Specific educational/training programme are essential to cover the area of global change, disaster management, sustainable development and earth processes/system science. This requires combined support of space agencies, national governments and inter-governmental institutions like IGBP, WCRP, IGOS etc.
Training of trainers is important and institutions need to enable their faculty to acquire additional knowledge, newer skills. This could be integrated with specific training programmes or embedded into research programmes.
Efforts are required for increasing the awareness of EO Technology and applications in different countries – especially in developing countries. A coordinated programme is essential to address this at national and international level.
Enabling the emergence of regional hubs of EO Education/training by committing support to national/international and UN regional centres. These centres can effectively enable the outreach of EO data/services/tools to the developing countries in the world.
Involving private sector for enhancing out reach of EO education and training activities and products.