Page 1 of 2 Next  Dr. M.M Yagoub Director-Masters Programme on Remote Sensing and GIS United Arab Emirates University, UAE myagoub@uaeu.ac.ae Dr. M.S Nathawat Professor and Head Department of Remote Sensing BIT-Mesra, India msnathawat@yahoo.com  Dr.-Ing. Phisan Santitamnont Assistant Professor Survey Engineering Department Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand phisan.s@eng.chula.ac.th Prof. Mohd Ibrahim Seeni Mohd Dean Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Engineering UTM, Malaysia
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.
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.
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