MSc in Geographic Information Systems
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 school ensures that graduates are suitably skilled in the most recent developments in the field. This places them at considerable advantage in the workplace.
GIS software developer; GIS Manager/ Analyst / Data manager in local authority, government agency, insurance industry, location-based services; Manager in GIS vendor Organisation; GIS technical consultant (e.g. software support and solutions); Researcher (e.g. PhD or Research Associate).
Some student testimonials from our previous MSc in Geographic Information programme:
"The MGI has opened many doors for me at work. There is very little data in the Environment Agency that is not spatially referenced and the use of GI and GIS is an ever-expanding necessity. I work in a team of Data Scientists all of whom have varying and complimentary skills. The MGI has fast tracked me to the GI/GIS contact within this team giving me opportunities to work on GIS projects associated with and beyond my database work.
My employers have been very encouraging and supportive of my involvement in the programme, for them I now fill a niche, bridging the perceived GIS - database gap in the team. Their financial support is testament to this. This programme was of particular interest to them, partly due to the novel Internet based approach, but also the subject matter. Modules on Information Law and Policy, for example, provide important legal and ethical knowledge, which is offered without sacrificing technical knowledge and skill provided by modules such as GI Science and Spatial Programming.
Examples used throughout the teaching bridge the technical, the physical, the socio-economic and even the socio-technical and socio-political. From my employer's point of view, this provides a blinker free approach to problem solving and idea development.
I can see that my career prospects improve daily, this I glean from working relationships with managers and colleagues. I would hope that the ability to combine work and University would add to the appeal."
[Kevin Holohan, MGI Graduate and employee, Environment Agency, UK]
"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 Systems website.