Who is the advanced GIS student in Geography? - Fp Ucalgary

Who is the advanced GIS student in 

Geography 

Demographics, program trajectories, and 

outcomes of the University of Calgary Masters 

of Geographic Information Systems/Science 

(MGIS) Program 

Mryka Hall-Beyer, PhD 

Associate Professor, 

Department of Geography 

University of Calgary 

mhallbey@ucalagry.ca 

1999-2005. 

http://www.ucalgary.ca/mgis 

Lynn Moorman, MSc 

Program Manager, MGIS Program 

Department of Geography 

University of Calgary 

lmoorman@ucalgary.ca 

M. Hall-Beyer and L. Moorman 

CAG June 1, 2005 

MGIS: Systems to Science

What I’m going to say 

• MGIS, an Innovative program: what was 

set up 

• Who are our students and how have they 

changed 

•Outcomes 

• Adjustments 

• Ongoing changes: looking to the future 




What was set up and why 




Responding to the Market 

• GEOTECH: a major jobs driver 

• Calgary area city and industry are major users of 

geographical data 

• U of Calgary Geography: concentration of 

geospatial expertise 

– Links to programs in Geomatics Engineering, 

Management Information Systems and Environmental 

Design 




Principle: Master’s Level 

• Hands-on abilities, with strong theory 

– Graduates can adapt and contribute to new 

developments 

• Core disciplines: (1 advanced course each) 

– GIS 

– Remote Sensing 

– Spatial Statistics 

• A 2-course independent project 

• Five other courses adaptable to individual 

student needs 




• Final oral examination 

• Every student to have project supervisor 

• Intended as terminal degree but students 

might continue to PhD on its basis 

• No student funding planned: able to finish 

in one calendar year 




“Campus Alberta” concept 

• Other institutions had undergraduate 

programs including extensive core 

discipline training 

• Technology programs: Applied Bachelor’s 

(3-yr) and Diploma programs 




Need to keep abreast of cuttingedge 

developments 

• Industry advisory committee established 

• Staff/Faculty participation in industry group 




Planning began in 1997 

• Based on existing professorial expertise 

– 5 faculty in GIS-related disciplines 

– Technician, Cartographer, Administrative 

– To be supplemented by outside instructors 

• Based on undergraduate course experience 

– Entire senior-level (2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th year) sequence in GIS 

and Remote Sensing 

– 2-year statistics and cartography sequences 




How to start it 

• Funded through Alberta Access approved 

1998 

– Designed and funded for 50 students/year 

– Eventual hiring of 5 new faculty positions 

– Program Manager position 

• If objectives met, permanent after 5 th year 

(2004) 




Equipment 

• New dedicated 24-seat high-end computer 

lab 

Adds to existing 48 seats of computers 

equipped with GIS-related software 

Campus-wide accessibility and licensing 

for basic specialised software 

Library-based spatial data management 

system 




• Contribution to Department and University 

software, plus additional acquisitions 

• Provision for 3 to 4-year evergreening 

cycle for hardware 

• Funding for additional dedicated 

technician 




Who are the students 




• Four-year Bachelor’s with minimum 3.0 

GPA 

• Not necessary to have GIS background: 

keep the doors open 

• Looking for applications expertise or 

experience in some area 

• Proposal for project or statement of intent 

• Competitive admissions beyond minimum 




How have they changed 




• Beginning: 

– Our own undergraduates 

– Employees of resource-based companies 

– First 2 years, not too competitive 

•Now: 

– Strong international component 

– Many enter with advanced degrees 

– Great variety of applications expertise 

– Very competitive admissions 




Applications and acceptance 

• First year: 7 students 

• Many Geography backgrounds, but also 

engineering, computer sciences, applications 

areas 

• Target 50 students/year reached in 2003 

– Adjusted for completion times 

• GPA has not changed, but applicants have more 

experience 

– Accept ~35 from ~100 applicants yearly 

• International students increasing 

– Visa timing and job opportunities a problem 




80 

70 

60 

50 

Population 40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

Total MGIS population (fall term count) 

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 

Year 

Female 

Male 

Growing to 

stable state 

Enrollment Status 

80 

70 

60 

50 

Population 40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 

Year 

Part-time 

Full-time 




Enrollment status of males 

Population 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

Male part-time 

Male full-time 

0 

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 

Year 

Female Enrollment Status 

Population 

35 

30 

25 

20 

15 

10 

5 

0 

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 

Year 

Female part-time 

Female full-time 




International students 

Citizenship Status (Dec. 2004) 

Population 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 

Year 

International Visa 

students 

Canadian and landed 

immigrants 




Where from 

•S. Korea 9 

• China 8 

• India 6 

• Mexico 5 

• Australia 3 

• Colombia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi 

Arabia, Tanzania, UK, US 

• Agreement with Egypt, no students yet 




Outcomes 




To date 

• 70 students have completed the MGIS degree 

• A few employment examples 

– College Instructor 

– Cantonal environmental specialist, Switzerland 

– Wetland research, Ducks Unlimited Canada 

– Landscape ecologist, SK Wetland Conservation 

Corporation 

– GIS/RS specialist, AB Geological Survey 

– Research support at various universities, Canada and 

USA 

– GIS/RS specialists at various consulting companies 

– City and regional planning and support services 




Adjustments 




Some basic things we learned - 

quickly 

• To keep door open to non-experts, we 

need to provide upgrading 

– Almost everyone needs upgrading in at least 

one of the core areas 

– Initially: special courses appended to 

undergraduate advanced courses 

– After new faculty hired, “basics and beyond” 

courses added, bringing students to level of 

senior undergraduates 




More basic things we learned 

• Supervision is difficult: more time consuming 

than for research students 

• Finding projects for this number of students is 

challenging 

– Working to develop project sequences involving many 

students 

– Assisting in MSc and PhD programs 

• We need to have funding available for some 

students: 

– most full-time students take longer than 1 year 

because of work commitments 




The part-time dilemma 

• Students currently working may have 

scheduling difficulties 

– More alternative scheduling required 

• Students may get a job before completing 

the program 

– Makes project completion difficult or less 

compelling 

– May want to change project at late stage 




Course adjustments 

• Ongoing challenge of providing state-of-the-art 

optional courses 

– High-demand: 

• Visual Basic and other programming 

• Decision support 

• Business Geographics, Enterprise GIS and Database 

Management 

• Spatial ecology 

–4 th year undergraduate level (maximum of 2) and grad 

courses from other Departments as appropriate to 

student 




More course issues 

• Demand for “basics” courses and some 

options courses from non-MGIS students 

– Graduate students in other programs 

– Industry and government employees 

– Students wanting to upgrade before applying 

to this or another program 

– Advanced undergraduates (options courses) 




Project adjustments 

• Some students arrive with data and a project in 

mind 

• Most students need data 

– Timing means that they cannot conduct extensive 

field work 

– Data sharing agreements are a continual issue 

• Increasing public data is very important 

• Require supervisor agreement for admission 




Employment trends 

• Over 6 years, GIS expertise has become 

increasingly assumed in many areas 

– forensics, regional planning, oil and gas, environment, 

urban, marketing, education, transportation and 

communication, real estate, reclamation, mining, 

forestry, climate change, arctic issues, tourism, 

indigenous GIS … 

• Our students’ interests have broadened along 

with this 

http://www.ucalgary.ca/mgis/research/studentresearch.html 




Additional services 

• As program matured, need for further services 

increased (budget problems) 

– Agreements with other institutions 

– Jobs board: through Program Manager 

– Alumni contacts and mentoring 

– Short courses and conferences, speakers 

– Interface with industry, professional organizations and 

broader GIS community 

– Marketing 

– Upkeep of intranet (Blackboard) information 

– … and one MGIS engagement (so far) … 




Ongoing challenges 

• Hardware and software evergreening 

• Addition of new software and courses 

– eCognition Centre of Excellence announced April 

2005 

– Radar Remote Sensing course 2006 

• Integrating faculty and program into larger 

Department 

– Faculty research, teaching, supervision balance 

– Budget no longer separate and protected 




Positioning vis-à-vis new programs 

• Competition from online programs 

– Demand is there 

– Considering using some online in basics and 

core courses 

• Interaction of people wkith different specialties 

within a face-to-face program is important to us 

– Maintain research/independent project focus: 

not a technical program 




What I said… 

• Six years’ successful experience, 70+ graduates 

• Strong international interest 

• Excellent employment record for graduates 

• Adjustments made to keep up with 

developments in field, demand 

• Continued research output by students and 

faculty 

Part of 

2004 

graduating 

class 




More information 

Program website: 

http://www.ucalgary.ca/mgis 

Authors’ emails: 

mhallbey@ucalgary.ca 

lmoorman@ucalgary.ca 

Presentation at: 

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~mhallbey

Who is the advanced GIS student in Geography? - Fp Ucalgary

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