COORDINATED DEVELOPMENT IN GIS EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN
INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
Musisi Nkambwe
University of Botswana, Botswana
The development of GIS in most of the countries in the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) has been mainly ad-hoc, with training tied to specific projects in various
ministries. Institutions of higher learning had no capacity to promote the development of GIS
except in the Republic of South Africa. Consequently, the rate at which capacity to use GIS
is developing has been very slow in the SADC region. A new program, the SADC
Environmental Training and Education Sub-program, (SETES) has been designed to promote
the development of curriculla in GIS training and education in these institutions. Eight
universities and a training institute have formed a network to develop a coordinated GIS
education and training program under the Environment and Land Management Sector of
SADC (SADC/ELMS), concentrating specifically on environment related issues and problems
of sustainable development. Each of the institutions in the network is a node specialising in
one aspect of research, education and training, in the field in which it may contribute
uniquely to the whole network. The program will run over a five year period at the end of
which each of the institutions participating in it is expected to provide leadership in GIS
education and training.
Presentation format:
an overhead projector and a slide projector
Musisi Nkambwe
Department of Environmental Science
University of Botswana
Private Bag 0022, Gaborone
Botswana.
Fax No. 267-356591
e-mail musisin@noka.ub.bw