Blogs

UNIGIS Annual Partner Conference

This year, UNIGIS partner universities are convening at ISEGI in Lisbon, Portugal for their annual network coordination conference. Topics like curriculum and learning media development are on the agenda just like joint summer schools, credit transfer and enhancements for the worldwide community of UNIGIS alumni. With the UNIGIS network approaching its third decade of providing distance learning to GIS/GIScience professionals around the world, its reach now has expanded to all continents and student numbers continue to grow at an impressive pace – testimony to the high quality of education recognized across the GIS industry and all application domains. UNIGIS chair …

UNIGIS Orientation / Promotion workshop in India

“The appreciation and recognition of the UNIGIS network of GIScience education is increasing among students from various disciplines in India“ says Dr. Shahnawaz (Director S&SE Asia, UNIGIS International). This conclusion is based on the educational backgrounds of 26 students and 3 teachers / professionals participating in the UNIGIS orientation workshop organised at the UNIGIS AIILSG study centre, Cochin, Kerala (www.unigis.net/aiilsg_india) on 4th September, 2010. Most of the the participants in this one-day workshop are pursuing postgraduate studies in oceanography, environmental science and geography at various colleges in Kerala.After open-floor discussions with the participants, Mr. V. Govindankutty (Coordinator, UNIGIS@AIILSG_India) concluded that many …

UNIGIS Faculty Workshop – Indonesia

Within the context of working with potential new partners within the UNIGIS network in Southeast Asia, UNIGIS regional director Dr. Shahnawaz organised a 3 days faculty development workshop at the Bina Nusantara University (www.binus.ac.id), Jakarta, Indonesia from August 4-6, 2010. 29 faculty participated in the workshop, all with a computer science background. The workshop was themed “Spatial Management with GIScience” and focussed on developing spatial perspectives among computer science specialists. Besides delivering conceptual lectures, practical exercises were completed using professional GIS software. Following this workshop, options for continued UNIGIS collaboration were discussed during a half day meeting with BINUS administration on August 7.

Expanded UNIGIS presence across Asia

At this year’s MapAsia conference in Kuala Lumpur, UNIGIS regional director Dr Shahnawaz had the opportunity to present postgraduate distance education as an innovative option for professional and personal development to delegates from a range of disciplines and backgrounds. Interest in pursuing continuing education in GIScience and GIS was intense, demonstrating accelerated growth across the GIS industry! Ms. Norizah Kamarudin, Junior Faculty and PhD candidate at the Department of Forestry, University Putra Malaysia was welcoming visitors at the UNIGIS exhibition booth. On the closing day of MapAsia, Prof Josef Strobl keynoted and chaired the Capacity Building Forum, a key platform for …

UNIGIS at ESRI International User Conference in San Diego

UNIGIS actively participated in the ESRI International User Conference, July 12-16 2010. Monday night UNIGIS was present at the ‘Academic GIS Program Fair’, and from Tuesday to Thursday was available for attendees at a large booth in the main exhibit hall, providing information on all UNIGIS Distance Learning offerings worldwide. A lot of people stopped by to find out about UNIGIS: current UNIGIS students and alumni, prospective UNIGIS students, university faculty/staff as well as prospective UNIGIS member institutions. Representatives from UNIGIS USC, Latin America, Salzburg and Poland staffed the booth, presented UNIGIS programs and actively promoted UNIGIS studies worldwide.

UIA Academic Excellence Prize 2009 – Award Ceremony

Christof Amelunxen (UNIGIS Salzburg), winner of the Academic Excellence Prize 2009 presented his top quality MSc thesis at the GI_Forum 2010 in Salzburg. His thesis titled: “An approach to Geocoding Based on Volunteered Spatial Data” was unanimously considered by the Review Board as the best UNIGIS thesis worldwide submitted in the academic year 2008/9. After his presentation at the GI_Forum he was publicly awarded with the price and trophy by Josef Strobl in recognition of his work and the academic achievement. Congratulations!  The competition for the 2010 Prize is currently open. All UNIGIS partner universities worldwide are encouraged to take part in …

UNIGIS professional – Workshop in Salzburg

On Friday 11th and Saturday 12th a new intake of UNIGIS professional students started into a demanding but interesting year of learning applied GIS by getting together in Salzburg for an introductory workshop. Participants of the German language version of the UNIGIS professional certificate course typically originate from Austria, Germany or Switzerland, although Austria was a bit underrepresented with just one student in this group. The team from Salzburg wishes a good start and looks forward to interesting discussions on GIS-topics!

UNIGIS Netherlands Conference

UNIGIS Amsterdam is again inviting to the annual UNIGIS conference, June 14-18. The conference program includes multiple workshops on topics ranging from Spatial Analysis: a case study on malaria to Analysing & explaining land use change and will conclude with an Alumni Day on June 18 themed ‘Risk Assessment & GIS’.The opening lecture will be given by Prof Henk Scholten, the UNIGIS Amsterdam program director. While time has been set aside to watch soccer World Championship matches, numerous presentations and activities will introduce participants to the hot topics in today’s world of GIS.Wishing everybody a successful conference and reunion!

UNIGIS in Saudi Arabia

In the presence of the Saudi Minister of Higher Education, His Excellency Dr. Khalid Al Anqari on April 28, 2010 an academic cooperation agreement was signed between King Abdulaziz University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the University of Salzburg Center for Geoinformatics (Z_GIS). The signatories Prof Osama S. Tayyeb, President of King Abdulaziz University (KAU) and Prof Josef Strobl, Chair of UNIGIS International and Director of Z_GIS are aiming at establishing a dual degree program between these two universities. With the intent of starting a joint postgraduate distance learning program later in 2010, the globally recognized UNIGIS qualifications will be made …

UNIGIS with ESRI at Latin America GIS Edu Conference

UNIGIS is cooperating with ESRI in organising and contributing to the Latin America GIS Education Conference hosted by SIGSA, announced for September 21, 2010 in Mexico City: http://www.sigsa.info/lauc2010/edu.html The conference flyer offers additional details for this event which will bring together the Latin America GIS educators’ community sharing their experiences, discussing curricula, educational pedagogies and methods, and models for GIS labs.