Changes and tendencies in European university educations in land surveying

Klas ERNALD BORGES, Sweden

Key words:land surveying education, Bologna process, diversification

SUMMARY

The European university market in land surveying and land management is diversified. In many countries MSc programmes have a strong geomatic profile. In the Nordic countries the BSc and MSc engineering programmes integrate geomatics, land legislation, land policies, planning, real estate economics and property management. Such diversityis attractive for youngsters in choosing their university studies.

The European Bologna Process is challenging the national educational systems, aiming at a more integrated educational market in Europe. The mobility of students is encouraged, by changing universities from the BSc to the MSc level, as well as for the PhD level.

The university market has also become diversified at a national level, with an increase of new universities and university colleges. In Sweden the market was deregulated in 1993, leading to a diversification of BSc and MSc programmes in GIS, land surveying and land management.Five universities are today offering such programmes, compared to one before the 1990’s. Each university has to find its recruitment area and educational profiles. Examples are given of current changes in the Swedish university systems.

Changes and tendencies in European university educations in land surveying

Klas ERNALD BORGES, Sweden

  1. BACKGROUND

We are well acquainted with the profession land surveyor. Its history is longer than most professions today. The educational curriculum is based on the historical tradition, but it is successively changing according to our understanding of the needs of the society. The labour market requires land surveyors, as well as other graduates according to their competences and curriculum profiles. We also need to understand the market of the youngsters - their interest and their perception of the future market. They develop their own ideas of the content and symbolic value of the education and the profession. Even though these ideas and values are incomplete, it is the reality that we face as providers of university education.

Land surveying in Europe has been a predominantly national concern. It has developed within national jurisdictions and served the need of the society. The need of surveyors for establishment and maintenance of a national cadastre, fiscal or legal, is dating back to the origin and unification of a nation. The Domesday Book in Englandin 1066, the Swedish taxation survey of farms in 1540 and the 1807 Napoleon cadastre are all examples of the early need of a national development of a cadastral system, which required professionals.

Enemark (2002) and Stubkjær (2006) are further focussing on the challenge of the surveying profession due to the evolution of modern land administration systems. These systems continue to be national concerns, but the coordination between the systems in Europe is a central issue. Several projects within the European Union and other international organisations aim at unifying the land market. E.g., the EULIS (European Land Information Services) project aims at providing easy worldwide access to European electronic land and property information in order to promote and underpin a single European property market (EULIS 2007). The idea to provide access within Europe is part of the general objective of the European Union to promote the political unification through economic means, as stated in the basic treaty, L’acquis communautarie. It is further developed in the area of land tenure, which is given high priority.

The ten new EU member countries in Central and Eastern European (accession in 2004 and 2007) have to develop their systems of land tenure data. The long term objective is an open market with a high degree of mobility of land, capital and people. This implies a liberalization of the land markets, including opening of this market to foreign ownership and occupancy of land (Grover 2006 and Grover, Törhönen & Palmer 2006).

The aim to unify the economies in Europeis also requiring an increased collaboration within the university market. The Bologna Process was signed in 1999 between 29 European countries and aims to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010, and it has successively been extended to another 17 European countries, thus in all 46 countries in Europe. The students will be able to choose from a wide and transparent range of high quality courses and benefit from smooth recognition procedures. The idea is to to make European Higher Education more compatible and comparable, more competitive and more attractive for Europeans and for students and scholars from other continents. It is considered that this reform is ncessary if Europe is to match the performance of the best performing systems in the world, notably the United States and Asia (European Commission 2007).

There are many implications for the educations in the land surveying area. The aim of higher degree of compatibility requires a broader understanding of the curriculum profiles in the different countries in Europe. The parallel work in the land tenure and land administration areas is also requiring an increased understanding of how we design our university degrees in these areas.

  1. THE EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY MARKET IN LAND SURVEYING

The review of Mattsson (2001) on the education and profession of land surveyors in Western Europe provides a good outline of the content of curricula in land surveying in most Western European countries. It is based on the 1996 survey of Professor Allan. The countries included in the study are Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

The report shows the special characteristics of the Swedish and Finnish land surveying programmes, with a strong emphasis on the areas valuation, finance and taxation, building economics and management, as part of the specialisation in real estate economics. The programmes also contain a specialisation in Land Management, Land Development and Cadastre, with courses in planning, urban and rural development. This specialisation is also classified as the most advanced among the countries studied in the survey. It could also be noticed that the Norwegian and Danish curriculum profiles are similar to the Swedish and Finnish profiles, though with less emphasis on Economics. The consequence of these specialisations is a reduction in the classical surveying engineering area, i.e. in geodesy, instruments and mining/engineering surveying. It is also shown that maps and GIS are given less attention in the Nordic curriculum profiles. The fast development in GIS has implied a noticeable change within the area of geomatics in the Nordic programmes, thus reaching a a satisfactory advanced level during the 2000’s.

The Nordic Mapping and Surveying/Geodesy specialisations are assessed as having approximately the same advanced level in these areas as the other European profiles. The Allan survey referred by Mattsson (2001) presents curricula of the other European countries as mainly exclusively technically oriented, with some differences.

Valuation is listed as a subject with core knowledge level, but not advanced knowledge, in several countries, e g, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, and Belgium. This might be explained by the role of surveyors in fiscal cadastres and assessment of compensation at compulsory acquisitions. Planning, urban and rural development is also listed as a core, but not advanced level in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France (advanced level in rural development). The comparison has to be understood in a national context of educational systems, being the areas of urban and rural planning and economics covered by other educational programmes.

The profiles might have changed since the 1996 survey of Professor Allen, but we know that professional education at advanced level does not change easily, as the professional areas change slowly, according to the demand of the market, how we design the educational programmes, and how we develop our concept of the core area and applications in adjacent areas. The area of real estate economics in the curriculum is an example on how the Swedish and Finnish markets have accepted and appreciated a new competence of land surveyors.

Enemark (2002) has also described the change of the professional profile of the Danish land surveyors in a historical context. In 1967 the cadastral area was the dominating work, occupying about 60 % of the surveyors’ working hours, while it had been reduced to about 20 % in 1997. The number of active surveyors in 1997 was almost the double of the number of surveyors in 1967. The professional areas with increased percentage of working hours were planning and land management (about 10 % in 1967; 23 % in 1997), mapping and engineering surveys (20 % to 26 %) and other areas (10 % to 31 %). A similar change could be found in Sweden as well, though with a major impact of land surveyors in real estate economics, real estate broking, mortgage and banking, land developments, etc.

Enemark also emphasizes the need to develop management skills, in parallel to specialist skills. It is further confirmed by the CLGE (Comité de Liaison des Géomètres Européens) report of a survey of the profession of surveyors compiled by Natchitz (2007). It becomes evident for the surveyors with a Master degree (defined as the bac + 5 years of university studies) or a PhD. The survey has been done by EEGECS, European Education in Geodetic Engineering, Cartography and Surveying. It is a network to reach a collaboration and co-operation system of most Higher Education Institutions which offer these studies, to meet the objectives and recommendations of the Bologna and Prague Declaration of the Ministers of Education in Europe (EEGECS 2007).

  1. THE BOLOGNA PROCESS IN THE LAND SURVEYING AREA

The Bologna Process aims to change the education system in Europe in various ways. Three areas are identified (European Commission 2007):

1)Introduction of the three cycle system (bachelor/master/doctorate),

2)Quality assurance

3)Recognition of qualifications and periods of study.

The three cycle system is a real challenge, as the educational systems vary a lot between the countries, as well as between different faculties. Several countries have a unified master system, with 5 years of university studies without an intermediate degree at bachelor level. The EEGECS survey referred above (Natchitz 2007) identifies only 5 of 19 countries with a bachelor level, while the joint master programme of five years is more common – 11 countries. Still there are engineering programmes of four years, though with a tendency to disappear (Clergeot 2007).

In Sweden we have adapted all university programmes to the three cycle system. This implies that we from autumn 2007 have expanded the engineering programmes from 4.5 to 5 years of studies. The bachelor level is compulsory from 2007, based on the Bologna process and a Governmental decree. However, it has been developed in different ways at the universities. At the Faculty of Engineering at LundUniversity we will offer a general degree in engineering, but without reference to the specific programme in the diploma. The main objective is to keep the students to complete the master level, which will include a specification of the programme, e.g., Land Surveying and Management. This strategy is partly contradictory to the aims of the Bologna Process, in particular the idea of changing universities for each level. On the other hand, several universities develop specific master programmes aiming at an increased recruitment of bachelor degree students from other universities, domestic, European as well as overseas students.

The general aim of the higher European educational area will be developed through a number of specific main indicators (Internationella Programkontoret 2007):

-unified system of comparable exams

-basically two levels (BSc and MSc)

-unified credit system (ECTS – European Credit Transfer System)

-promotion of mobility

-promotion of European cooperation on quality assurance

-promotion of the European dimension in higher education

The current system of student exchange is mainly based on one or two terms exchange studies, but without a separate degree at the foreign university. The number of foreign students has increased rapidly. In Sweden there were 20,000 foreign students in 2006, compared to 9,600 in 2001. The number of Swedish students studying abroad, on exchange programmes or so-called free movers has also increased a lot during the same period. (Högskoleverket 2007). The free movers in Sweden were about 8,200 in 2006, while the students in exchange programmes were only slightly higher – 10,100. At local level at the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University (LTH), the objective for student exchange is that at least 50 % of the students will spend a part of their studies abroad. The number is still much lower – about 30 %. In addition, about 6 % of the students perform their master thesis work abroad.

The university is working at different levels to increase international exchange studies for the Swedish students. The number of foreign exchange students at LTH exceeds the number of LTH engineering students abroad with 40-50 %. About 80-90 % of these foreign studentsare from other European countries. The limited number of LTH engineering students abroad in exchange programmes means a potential for an increased number of students. A limiting factor for land surveying students is a different curriculum profile abroad. As mentioned above, the curricula in the Nordic countries have more emphases on legal and economic areas. As the exchange studies usually are done during the final year of studies, the students would like to specialize even in their exchange studies. Specialisations in real estate law or real estate economy are seldom available in faculties of engineering.

The Bologna process will add another aspect to this objective, as a change of universities for MSc level studies, after completing the BSc degree, will function as an independent move for the student, unless it wouldn’t be included in a special exchange programme.

There are also other parts of the Bologna Process, even though the increased mobility for the students is mostly the main focus. Twelve working areas define the key objectives and areas of cooperation (European Commission 2007):

  • Education and Training of Teachers and Trainers
  • Key Competences
  • Language Learning
  • Information and Communication Technologies
  • Maths, Science and Technology
  • Making the best use of resources
  • Mobility and European cooperation
  • Open Learning Environment; Making Learning Attractive, Strengthening Links with Working Life and Society
  • Active citizenship and social cohesion
  • Reforming guidance and counselling
  • Recognising non-formal and informal learning
  • Measuring progress through indicators and benchmarks

The process implies an ambitious change and coordination of the higher education area in Europe. Being part of the university management of one engineering programme, it seems to be extremely ambitious within the stated time frame of 2010. The Swedish Government has decided to adapt our educational system to the Bologna Process from July 2007. This means that all students will be offered higher education according to the Bologna Process. A transition period until 2015 is defined for the students that were admitted to the programmes before 2007.

  1. LAND SURVEYING EDUCATION IN SWEDEN

4.1The university market

The Bologna Process is successively changing the higher educational system in Sweden. However, some changes during the latest decades are also of importance to understand a national perspective on the European integration. The Swedish system was deregulated in 1993, which implied a withdrawal of the central governmental control of university programmes, and an introduction of a market based educational system (Fritzell 1998). Each university and university college[1] had to identify and market its own profile to the youngsters, offering them educational programmes according to the demand. A local perspective substituted the governmental control of every educational area and its distribution to the universities. The universities have to understand two groups: the youngsters to recruit and the labour market for the graduated engineers. The Government defines only the objective as a total number of exams for each university, being part of the control of public funding of university education.

In parallel, the expansion of new universities in regional urban centres multiplied the options for the youngsters, and increased the number of university programmes. There was also a perspective of regional diversification of higher education that should increase the development in the regions with qualified manpower. The previous university structure was established in the main cities, including the two traditional university cities (Lund and Uppsala). Today, there are 61 universities, university colleges and other institutes that provide university education, being 20 of them universities with both under- and post-graduate education. The other 41 universities and institutes offer under-graduate education. There are in all about 1,800 programmes for the about 60,000 youngsters that yearly start their undergraduate studies. About 35,000 become students at a professional programme. Some programmes are designed as integrated bachelor and master programme, e.g., engineering programmes (Högskoleverket 2007).

The MSc engineering programmes of 4.5 years was extended from autumn 2007 to 5 years of studies, as a consequence of the Bologna Process, being 5 years master programmes. The BSc level is included, but has to be clearly stated and available as a separate degree for the students, on demand. The MSc engineering programmes enrolled about 6,200 new students yearly in 2006, and 3,300 students in BSc engineering programmes. The total number of MSc engineering exams has increased from about 1,500 in the mid-1970’s to about 4,700 in 2006. The rate of exams of females has increased during the same period from less than 10 % to above 30 % (SCB 2007). Still, the number of exams is estimated as unsatisfactory in relation to the need of the labour market, in a strategic and long-term perspective.

4.2The changing role of the Swedish land surveyor

A short historic review of the profession will facilitate an understanding of the development of the educational area. The profession of a land surveyor was upgraded in 1932 as an effect of the integration of the previous vocational training into an engineering programme at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. It implied an increase to the general level of four years of studies. The traditional area of surveying, including geodesy and cartography, was mixed with the areas of rural development, as a support to the cadastral reforms dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Rural development embraced legal issues, i.e., land legislation, civil engineering techniques, agricultural management, forestry, cadastral development, and some economic and environmental aspects. Still, the urban aspects had limited importance in the curriculum.