Forum

Geospatial Education   

Institutional Partner

Media Partner

Chairperson
Prof. Josef Strobl
Director
Centre for Geoinformatics
University of Salzburg, Austria
Director of UNIGIS, Co-Chair UNIGIS International

With advances in geospatial technologies and the increasing availability of spatial data and services, spatial thinking and related competencies will play a significant role in the information-based economies of the 21st-century. Higher education programmes based on geospatial disciplines have grown tremendously over the past 20 years. Still, the knowledge of geospatial professionals is not yet being fully capitalised by the emerging markets in Geo-ICT. There is a substantial gap between market demands and curricula of programmes being offered by educational institutions. Complementing a well-founded conceptual basis of education with valuable competences and skills will be essential for the future of our professions and the geospatial marketplace.

Key Objectives
The Geospatial Education Forum is intended to recognise and promote geospatial thinking as an integral part of education. Geospatial education does not only offer preparation for an attractive career track, but at the same time serves as an integrator and facilitator for problem solving across the curricula of a range of disciplines.
The forum has been planned with the following mandate:

• To bring together educators and professionals on a platform to share experience and expertise on benefits and merits of knowledge creation and technical skills dissemination through GI education
• To study and analyse changing trends in geospatial education vis-a-vis market demands.
• To analyse, access and reinvent appropriate pedagogical methodologies
• Address developments in educational standards and curricula
• Analyse career opportunities across a range of domains.

Sessions:
The following sessions have been planned for the Geospatial Education Forum:

Session I: Educational Standards, Curricula & Programmes in Geospatial Science & Technology
This session will focus on the educational programmes offered at various educational institutions - their focus and limitations. The idea is to look upon these courses and the competencies they are providing from the educator’s point of view. How can programmes be customised to reach diverse audiences across the full range of target groups and domains?

Curriculum standardisation is intended to secure essential competences in GIS education (e.g. through core curricula). Standards are necessary, too, for defining geospatial job descriptions and to specify educational requirements. The term ‘GIS education’ shall not mean skills-oriented instruction in GIS software operations but rather be based on scientific conceptual knowledge and competence in methods.

Session II: Workforce Needs and Market Opportunities
Workforce requirements need to be matched with educational resources and market needs. This session is an effort to explore a possible gap between current education/training and market demands, discuss potential reasons and further suggest ideas for remedies.

Session III: Pedagogy in GIS&T
This session discussed the issues related to exemplary models for teaching GIS, presenting variety of pedagogical methods and learning models.

Target Audience
This symposium is geared towards the education community - educators, professors, curriculum specialists, colleges/universities as well as private companies who are willing to expand geospatial education through technology and outreach. This symposium is optimistic about making the educational institutions recognise what the market demands are and vice versa, in order to more closely connect the supply and demand side of GIS&T education.

Speakers

Dr V K Dadhwal Dean IIRS INDIA	Dr R Shivakumar Reader Department of Remote Sensing BIT - Mesra India
Prof I V Murlikrishna Professor Institute of Science Technology Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University (JNTU) Hyderabad	Shambhu Singh Secretary Education (S), Government of Manipur India
Dr Nitin K Tripathi Editor-in-Chief International Journal of Geoinformatics Thailand	Brig K K V Khanzode Director Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics India