MSc in Geographic Information Management
Career benefits
This programme is particularly suited to the development of careers in the GI field for a number of reasons.
- The part-time distance mode allows students to combine workplace and study experience. Coursework often allows the two to supplement and enhance each other.
- The community of MGI students make extensive use of online communication to keep in touch with respect to job opportunities, links with workplace activities etc.
- Guidance from a steering committee of industry and senior GI figures keeps the programme grounded in an approach directly relevant to the GI workplace.
- Advanced research in the department and the school ensures that graduates are suitably skilled in the most recent developments in the field. This places them at considerable advantage in the workplace.
Typical graduates of the programme include:
GI Manager/ Strategist in local authority, business, government agency, insurance industry, location-based services; Manager in GIS vendor organisation; GI Consultant (GI policy, practice and solutions); Researcher (e.g. PhD candidate or Research Associate).
Some student testimonials from our previous MSc in Geographic Information programme:
"As someone aiming to advance my professional qualifications, and at the time, living somewhere relatively remote, the MGI via the web provided a priceless education resource. My occupation requires me to move around the globe at regular intervals. At the time of deciding to study the MGI, I was living and working in the Cayman Islands (due South of Cuba). For the first 3 months of year 1, I studied from Cayman before I moved to London and completed the rest of the year from there: still via the web. At the same time, I became the UK GIS manager for a global corporation and I took my studies with me! Like a suitcase, my laptop was my classroom; carrying all I needed and providing me with capacity to study from anywhere with a hole in the wall! Chicago, Miami, Grand Cayman and Houston are all airport lounges that have witnessed an MGI lecture.
Studying the MGI whilst on the move illustrates the beauty of studying online, using a virtual learning environment such as WebCT. There are no geographic ties, bar local telecoms. If I had begun any other programme, the last year would have forced me to quit. Flexibility is king!
In terms of aiding my career and I guess personally, I believe that it is the most worthwhile and rewarding activity I have ever done. Luckily for me, I am actively involved in almost every aspect of the MGI content, everyday at work. Thus, it is easy for me to consolidate my learning. I believe that by taking the MGI, I have developed in all areas of my profession: making me more effective and more employable. The support and participation from staff and fellow pupils has been second to none, and new friendships have developed too.."
[Tony Battle, MGI Graduate]
"I graduated with BSc in Geography from the University of Wales, Swansea in 1996, and spent the following three years travelling and teaching. I ended up in various places trying to figure out what it was I really wanted to do with my qualifications and 'skills' as they stood.
On return from my travels I enrolled for the MGI, and things took off almost instantly! I'm of the age where we just missed the boat on a lot of the IT options, and this included my undergraduate degree to an extent. I was quite fearful of computers and didn't really have much of idea how I could make my undergraduate studies relevant in the work place.
The MGI was really hard work, although I found myself totally absorbed by all the new things I was learning, which ranged from spatial programming in Java to the broader issues of how it all fits together within and between all the organisations who have to deal with spatial data.
The MGI is like feeding steroids to a geography undergraduate ... you just can't help getting into it. The skills and opportunities that come out of it are really exciting. If you like geography and are willing to put the work in, it can turn a bachelors degree into a very marketable set of skills indeed."
[Ian Densham, MGI Graduate, now working for UK Hydrographic Office]
"I am in the second year of the programme, having relatively successfully combined my studies with my professional and family lives over the past eighteen months. My professional qualifications include commissions as a Canada Lands Surveyor and an Ontario Land Surveyor. I am what is euphemistically known as a 'mature' student. As well as President of RBA in Canada, I am a director of an affiliated firm, BRVW Australia thus maintaining at least a virtual presence on three continents. Most of my work involves consulting to large organisations, often selling the merits of GI.
What I have learned during the last eighteen months I have already been able to put to good use in my consulting work. It has provided me with a profound sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. I am now an ardent advocate of lifelong learning"
[Bob Batterham, MGI Graduate, GI Consultant]
Further information on career benefits can be found on the MSc in Geographic Information Management website.