The idea for this publication was barn in June 2015, during a meeting of Polish teachers involved with Geographic lnformation Systems. The meeting was initiated by the Department of Geoinformation, Faculty of Geographical Sciences, University of Łódź, which received a grant to organize it. The discussion and presentations from academic teachers representing various universities in Poland were very interesting and sometimes heated. it would be advisable for other educators to familiarise themselves with the aspects of GIS education among Polish geographers, foresters, surveyors and other users. The experience of Geoinformation education in Poland is still modest, so the views of people who have been involved at Polish universities with it since the 1990s should be interesting to readers.
Geographic lnformation Systems (GIS) – the integration of environmental and climate issues as an important factor for economic development and quality of life – an innovative second-degree studies. Akronim GIS-E-QL: GIS for environment and quality of life.
Project objectives: The main aim of the project is to start-up attractive and innovative second degree studies – geoinformation in mutual cooperation of the FGS and the FMCS, students education, improving the competence of academic teachers, conference organization, publishing, cooperation with practitioners and establishing contacts with partners from Norway. This aim is consistent with the “Ana lysis of the economy's demand for graduates in key field of strategy in the context of the Europe 2020” 2012 and “Strategy for development of higher education in Poland 2020”, in the field of promoting innovative courses, formed collectively with practitioners, raising awareness of the environment. Joint actions of educators and practitioners, supported the by the strengthening of university's hardware, software and spatial data, will ensure a high quality project. The existing cooperation with practitioners indicate that further training is necessary and they would like to see postgraduates in their institutions. The final beneficiaries of the project will be the students and the academical teaching staff and indirectly the economy of the region. Students who graduate will be the main recipient of the project, the next will be teaching staff who will have contact with the practices and Norwegian partners with similar interests. In broad terms the project will benefit Polish and European economy and environment.The experience of Polish scientists and educators in the GIS has not been
as long as mentioned by Michael F. Goodchild who jointly with Ross
Newkirk (Goodchild 2006) started the fi rst GIS training course at the University
of Western Ontario in Canada in 1975. Discussions on the scope of
knowledge included in the GIS have continued at most universities that
have offered such classes. In 1988/89, owing to the National Centre for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA), the 3-volume document of
over 1000 pages was put together to include curriculums, student materials
and other teaching aids. We have good models and we can use
them. Meetings and discussions about the GIS education have been and
still are regularly held all over the world (Forer P., Unwin D. 1999). When
employees of Polish universities were starting to learn the GIS software
and possibilities, Morgan J. M., Fleury B., Becker R. A. (1996) had already
identifi ed over 800 higher education institutions all over the world that
had offered at least one GIS course. The rapid development of new technologies,
methods, the creation of new labour markets has arisen discussions
on the contents GIS training in various centres of higher education,
e.g. in the Netherlands, the US, and those have been similar to the ones
presented in this article (Toppen F. J. 1992) and some issues needed to be
resolved in court (DiBiase, D. 2008). You can see how important these meetings of educators are for exchanging
opinions and experience. They have allowed to meed people representing
various fi elds involved in the geoinformation, which may result in
co-operation and new educational initiatives, and sometimes, competition.
Finally, we should agree with prof. J. Gaździcki (2009 p. 12) that “It is obvious
that the success of any measures to modernise education in the area
under consideration depends on the interest of academic communities,
involvement of research and academic staff in these endeavours, their
will, ambition and willingness to co-operate”.This book has been prepared within the project „Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – the integration of environmental and climate issues as an important factor of economic development and quality of life – an innovative second-degree studies” supported by a grant from Norway through the Norway Grants and co-financed by the Polish funds. (Agreement No FSS/2014/HEI/W/0114/U/0013)
