Geomatics

As a response to the growing demand of land sector professionals in the country, the institute of Land Administration (ILA) has made an enormous effort to launch and expand undergraduate and post graduate programs in the areas of land administration. One of the programs is M.Sc. in Geomatics which deals with the much demanded fields of Geodesy and Spatial part of land administration and management. 

Currently, the Institute of Land Administration, Bahir Dar University is offering a Master’s Degree program in Land Administration and Management, the first of its kind in the country. This program has relatively a holistic approach which is intended to provide students with technical knowledge and skills in the areas of Geomatics and its application to Land Administration. This fills the short comings of the existing curriculum in MSc in Land Administration and Management, which is not framed in a way it includes sufficient number of technical courses in Geomatics area and adequate length of time to get the required knowledge and skills.

Hence, there is still a need to work on further specialization in the field of Geomatics for Land Administration to better answer the demand to manage and administer the land resource of the country in line with what the time demands. Following the initiative of the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, and discussion with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources and other stakeholders, the Institute of Land Administration has found it timely and appropriate to develop an MSc Degree Program in Geomatics for Land Administration. The aim of the program is to bridge the existing gap in the lack of qualified technical experts in Geomatics in the country. It shall produce skilled and educated manpower having different practical and theoretical knowledge in the field of Geomatics both in rural and urban setting. The graduates from the program will be an input for the government, various education institutions, the private sector and others in their work on the geodesy and spatial technology aspects of land administration in the country. The new program includes far more diverse and focused courses that can really meet the new changes in the rural and urban land administration system in the country. 

At the national level, there is no other academic institution that target to train professionals in the field of Geomatics for Land Administration. Therefore, as the need assessment survey attached in the appendix 3 indicates, it is significant and timely to open the proposed master’s Program.

Objectives of the Program 

General Objectives 

The Program aims to produce graduates with sound knowledge and skill in Geomatics for Land Administration in Ethiopia. The program shall use a unified approach in the sense that the issues will be addressed in respect to both urban and rural areas .As the curriculum focus more on geodesy and spatial technology, graduates will excel themselves to theoretical and practical knowledge so as to develop an inter-disciplinary approach to solve Land Administration problems in different domains. 

Specific objectives 

The specific objectives of M.Sc. program in Geomatics are to:

√ Provide learning opportunities so that students can be equipped with the knowledge and understanding, skill and competency to undertake research particularly in geodesy and spatial technology support land administration system development. 

√ Provide graduates with the skills to conduct geodetic measurements, processing, adjustment, photogrammetric aero-triangulation, image processing and enhancement, GIS analysis and modelling. 

√ Contribute to the university’s objectives of expansion of graduate studies and to be center of excellence in urban and rural cadastral system development through Geomatics technology.