UNIGIS in Nepal: on track towards launch!

The UNIGIS orientation workshop organised in Kathmandu 'is a further step towards establishing a UNIGIS study centre in Nepal', said Dr. Shahnawaz (Director South & Southeast Asia, UNIGIS International). He elaborated that this collaboration was initiated already in 2010, but the granting of formal permission from the Ministry of Education can only be facilitated by the new incoming Nepalese Government. Now this process is expected to complete within the next weeks. Anticipating a favourable outcome, a faculty orientation workshop was conducted at the partner institution Kathmandu Forestry College (KAFCOL: www.kafcol.edu.np) on 5^th February, 2011. 15 highly motivated individuals attended, including Dr. Bishnu Hari Pandit (Principal KAFCOL), Dr. Krishna Prasad Poudel (Coordinator, UNIGIS at KAFCOL), members of the academic board, other faculty members as well as some potential course participants.

KAFCOL, which is a college affiliated with Tribhuvan University, will offer UNIGIS qualifications under a joint study programme with the Centre for Geoinformatics (Z_GIS: www.uni-salzburg.at/zgis), University of Salzburg, Austria.

52 new students georeferenced at UNIGIS Salzburg

Today, a total of 52 new students in the UNIGIS MSc and UNIGISprofessional certificate programmes finished their introductory orientation workshops at the University of Salzburg. Since intensive communication, mutual support and working in virtually connected groups is absolutely essential for success in a distance learning program, getting to know each other well is one key objective during these kick-off workshops.

The agenda kept everybody busy with exploring one's own motivation and curricular options, working through individual SWOT analyses and elective GIS software options, as well as establishing Web 2.0 communications and exploring the benefits of an ePortfolio.

Students from a wide variety of backgrounds including Cartography, Planning, Biology, Archeology, IT, Environmental Studies, Forestry, Geography and many others joined in their common objective to enhance their professional qualifications and careers with on emphasis on Geoinformatics, leveraging Geospatial Science and Technologies to tackle their mission and tasks from an explicit spatial perspective.

While spatial is not any more special, 'geospatial' today is even more important to provide universal 'context' for our lives and personal roles in our environments, societies and professions.

Faculty workshop in Chandigarh

With the aim of supporting and further developing the recently started study center at the Panjab University in Chandigarh (northern India) Prof Josef  Strobl und UNIGIS regional director Dr Shahnawaz conducted a faculty workshop on Jan 22, 2011. Led by Geography Department chair Prof Krishna Mohan and programme coordinator Prof Smita Bhutani seven module instructors gathered for a day focused on student communication and support, effective use of the UNIGIS learning environment and for discussion of organisational matters.

Established in 1960, the Department of Geography, Panjab University, has achieved a place of eminence in research and teaching. The Department  is one of the country's premier centres for postgraduate studies in Geography. It offers opportunities for Ph.D., M.Phil, and postgraduate Degree in Geography, Remote Sensing & GIS and Disaster Management. The  M.Sc. in Geographic Information Systems and Science and a Diploma in Geoinformatics are offered as distance learning options in collaboration with University of Salzburg, Austria.

UNIGIS at Geospatial World Forum

UNIGIS is again supporting the biannual Geospatial World Forum in Hyderabad as a key 'knowledge partner'. During award night, Prof Josef Strobl spoke on behalf of the selection jury before prices were handed to recipients by the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.

Students, graduates and everybody interested in UNIGIS education is meeting at the UNIGIS booth in the exhibit area, representing all partner institutions within UNIGIS India: the Universities of Goa and Chandigarh, as well as AIILSG offering UNGIS professional from various locations.

As the leading educational organisation at the Geospatial World Forum, UNIGIS is coordinating and leading the 'Integrated Design Education Forum' discussing the 'Geodesign' aspects of academic education in GIS, Geoinformatics and Geographic Information Science.

Top academic honours for UNIGIS Hungary alumnus

On Nov 30, Peter Gyenizse (UNIGIS Hungary 2004) successfully finished his habilitation process, the highest level of academic qualification in his country. The presentation of his scientific work is titled "An investigation of the physical and social impacts on the urban development of Pécs using GIS".

Pécs, the most populous city of Southern Transdanubia (Southwest-Hungary), is located on the southern foothills and slopes of the Mecsek Mountains and in the bottom of the Pécs Basin. P. Gyenizse's study applies GIS methodology to explore the major physical and social potentials and their influence on the urban environment.

During the last fifteen years almost 200 student have graduated in Geoinformatics from the University of West Hungary. More than 10% of these alumni are holding a PhD degree, which reflects the high quality of this postgraduate course.