Digital Mapping and GIS. Their educational facilities have
developed up to awarding post-graduate diplomas and M.Sc.
degrees in modern techniques apart from offering courses in
these techniques as an integral part of other degree programmes
(see Table 2). This second group is exemplified by Nigeria and
Madagascar in Table 2. Singapore should belong to this group
but there was no response to the country-wide survey. In this
second group of countries, manpower development in
sophisticated techniques such as DIP in Photogrammetry and
Remote Sensing and Inertial Surveying methods is heavily
dependent on technical assistance.
Developing countries in the third group have acquired hardware
and software facilities for Digital Mapping and GIS through
technical assistance but are yet to develop indigenous training
programmes within their countries. They are therefore still
heavily dependent on technical assistance for their manpower
development in modern techniques. Countries like Ghana,
Chile, Bolivia, Guinea (Conakry) Ethiopia and Turkey are
typical examples of this group.
The fourth category of developing countries is well illustrated
by Namibia where manpower development and availability of
both hardware and software facilities are almost nil. Such
countries are very few but they exist as a large proportion of
Least Developed Countries of the world even though this survey
has not covered them. In such countries awareness of GPS,
Digital Image Processing, Computer Cartography and GIS is
almost nil and there is hardly any individual who has a
specialized qualification in modern surveying techniques.
3.2 Institutional Survey
At the institutional level (see Table 2), four categories of
tertiary institutions can also be identified. Those with advanced
level training up to M.Sc. or Ph.D. level such as South Africa
(University of Cape Town), Nigeria (University of Lagos), and
Singapore (Nanyang Technological University) constitute the
first category.
Institutions with facilities for training programmes at
technologist or post-graduate diploma level form the second
group. Regional Centre for Training in Aero Space Surveys
(RECTAS), Ile-Ife, and the University of Ibadan, both in
Nigeria, belong to the second category. The first two categories
also have modern techniques as part of existing programmes at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
The third category of institutions consists of those whose
facilities are only enough to support modern techniques as an
integral part of the existing degree programme such as B.Sc.
(Surveying), M.Sc. (Surveying) or Inginieur Geometrie
Topographie. The following institutions illustrate the third
category: Institute Geographique et Hydrographique National
(Madagascar), University of Science and Technology, Kumasi
(Ghana),Instituto Geografico Militar, La Paz (Bolivia),
University of Nairobi (Kenya) and Institute of Geodesy, Poland.
The fourth group of institutions is constituted by those without
any training programme such as the University of Namibia and
Al-Azhut University, Cairo (Egypt). They have no hardware or
software facilities or lack the technical skills or both. From the
responses to the institutional questionnaire, some of them have
the manpower resources but no equipment to work with.
It is good to note that technical cooperation is an important
feature of this survey and will now be discussed in the next
section.
4. TECHNICAL COOPERATION
There are two types of technical cooperation covered by the
survey viz. North-South cooperation existing between
developed and developing countries and South-South
cooperation which is sometimes desirable amongst developing
countries. North-South cooperation was also surveyed at the
country-wide level as well as at the institutional level.
4.1 North-South Cooperation
The result of the country-wide survey shows that all the eleven
countries surveyed in Table 1 have enjoyed North-South type of
cooperation in modern techniques such as GPS, GIS, Digital
2
Photogrammetry, Digital Remote Sensing and Digital Mapping.
The survey also shows that assistance received from developed
countries were to facilitate manpower development and to
acquire hardware and software facilities. In some cases the
purpose of cooperation is to execute a defined Digital Mapping
project. Thanks to donors involved in such cooperation
including the World Bank, the Dutch, Canadian, French,
Japanese, German, British and US governments, the UNDP and
the European Union (see Table 1). At the institutional level,
technical cooperations were also established usually as a tertiary
institutional linkage programme sponsored by donor agencies
to link tertiary institutions in developed countries to their
counterparts in developing countries. All the donors mentioned
above in addition to Swedish International Development
Agency (SIDA), are involved at the fifteen tertiary institutions
surveyed in developing countries. The purpose of cooperation is
usually similar to that of the country-wide cooperation.
The cooperation between regional centres in Africa and Asia
and their respective donors have also linked their participating
countries in such centres with advanced technology in the
developed countries. This is a very important aspect of
institutional technical cooperation
4.2 South-South Cooperation
The survey questionnaire specifically requested institutions to
indicate what type of technical assistance they can offer other
institutions within or outside their region. It is encouraging to
note that some institutions in the developing countries are quite
willing to offer assistance to their counterparts within and
outside their regions (see Table 2. continued). South-South
cooperation is very beneficial in that a developing country or
institution is more likely to adapt a new technology following
the example of its counterparts in another developing country
than that of its counterpart in a developed country.
5. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
The following general observations and conclusions can be
made:
(a) Most developing countries have been slow in catching up
with modern techniques while only a few are moving fast.
(b) Without technical cooperation (North-South), new
techniques would have been near impossible in most developing
countries. Thanks again to donors, Table 2 shows that
institutions which have no technical assistance are also devoid
of modern techniques in their training programmes.
(c) Areas where there is very little or no advancement in most
developing countries are in Digital Photogrammetry, Digital
Remote Sensing, and Digital Cartography. Most countries do
not have higher degree training programmes in these areas.
(d) The regional centres in Africa and Asia contribute an
important linkage between their participating countries and the
modern technologies in developed countries. Some donors
regard this as a multinational cooperation and do favour it. The
regional centres at Ile-Ife, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenya constitute
a good example of this type of cooperation. Developing
countries should therefore consider their participation in these
centres if they have not already done so.
(e) A multi-institutional linkage of tertiary institutions in
developing countries with their counterparts in the developed
countries is also very crucial for developing institutions. Some
donors also favour this type of cooperation.
(f) Curriculum for modern techniques can be established by
institutions using the Modules established for Curriculum
Development by the author (see Ayeni, 1992).
Most developing countries and institutions still require technical
assistance. However, some countries and institutions which
have been classified as grossly underdeveloped in this paper
require special attention from both developed countries through
a North-South technical cooperation and from advanced
developing countries through a South-South technical
cooperation.
REFERENCE
Ayeni, O. O., 1992 “Curriculum Development for Developing
Countries”. International Archives of Photogrammetry and
Remote Sensing, Washington, DC, USA. Commission VI Vol.
XXVII, pp. 227 - 234.
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B6. Vienna 1996
