The Forum was opened and chaired by Kazimierz Bujakowski, PhD - the Surveyor General of Poland and Professor Alina Maciejewska - President of the Council of Deans of the Faculties of Geodesy. The 4th Forum was devoted to evaluation of how provisions adopted during the 3rd Forum were implementation as well as to analysis of vocational education in the profession of a surveyor in upper-secondary schools.

Professor Maciejewska concluded that universities had made a step forwards in order to adjust their curricula to market requirements. Some of them had offered new specialisations, while others had corrected their curricula and entered into cooperation with entrepreneurs. Initiatives undertaken by universities as regards practical trainings and internships were presented by the Dean of the Faculty of Geodesy, Geospatial and Civil Engineering of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Professor Radosław Wiśniewski. Additional educational effects, not included in the curricula, are obtained as a part of practical trainings and internships.

Professor Wiśniewski pointed out that practical trainings and internships were a huge challenge for universities, which, in many situations took the risk of returning the obtained funds in the case of any failure to meet one of the key programme criteria. In addition, there was no programme available in the National Centre for Research and Development as regards practical trainings for surveyors and cartographers. Next, a representative of BioStat presented the initial results of the labour market analysis within the scope of geodesy and cartography.

The analysis indicated that both the expectations of employers as regards university graduates and the expectations of graduates towards the employers fail to meet each other. Graduates’ creativity and use of their knowledge in practice were assessed negatively by employers. Graduates “resent” the employers for low salaries and mandate contracts (instead of long-term employment contracts). Simultaneously, they emphasise that employers are unwilling to share their knowledge with students during practical trainings. The last part of the Forum was devoted to education of surveying technicians. In the discussion, “overproduction” of surveyors was emphasised as the main reason for the adverse situation on the labour market. Simultaneously, it was pointed out that the unemployment rate in the profession of a surveyor and a cartographer began to decrease slightly. Thanks to the funds obtained from the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography for implementation of large projects co-financed from the EU, the situation should become more stable by 2020.

More information about the 4th Forum on vocational education of surveyors and cartographers is available on the website (in the Polish language):

http://geoforum.pl/?page=news&id=20697&link=nieodzowna-jest-koordynacja