International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B6. Istanbul 2004
About 98% of them have evaluated the International Course on
Remote Sensing and GIS as a very good course. The teaching
staff of this course was evaluated by 9696 of them as very good.
About 3994 considered the course infrastructure and equipment
very good, 3596 considered them good and 23% considered
them regular.
The main reason of those who considered the course
infrastructure and equipment as regular has commented that:
There was not a room with equipments exclusively to
the students; they had to deal the schedule with the
Remote Sensing researchers or students of other post
graduation courses;
Due to the reduced number of computers, some of
them had to accomplish their disciplines exercises as
well as the final practical project using their personal
computer and they felt prejudiced for it.
Here should be mentioned that most of these considerations are
about the period before the expansion of the course laboratory
in 2001.
More than 9896 of the former students have considered this
course very important for the progression of their
professional career.
as
Before finishing this research, some former students have made
several comments about the importance of this course for their
career as well as some suggestions:
The International Course on Remote Sensing and GIS
made possible to develop technical knowledge and the
coexistence with INPE community allowed acquiring
good human principles;
After the course, it was possible to supervise
graduation students, Remote Sensing, and GIS
training courses as well as participates in several
projects of this area.
Some of them suggest publishing the monographs of
all students during these 16 years. It could be made by
Internet or available at /NPE’s library for any user.
This course is very important to the professionals who
live in developing countries and need to be qualified
in this technology mainly for the development of the
Latin American countries.
It makes possible the dissemination of Remote
Sensing to people who live far from the big
technological centers, becoming an important tool in
the research and planning processes.
Considering the enormous growth of the Remote
Sensing and GIS technology, it can also contribute to
space analysis in studies of the society as social and
cultural changes in Doctorate Program in
Anthropology;
It allows a deeper knowledge about the Remote
Sensing and GIS technology to the professionals of
private companies and consequently better work
opportunities;
Some of them suggest that their practical work theme
should be related to their country and evaluated by the
INPE's advisor and the student company manager;
It was considered the lack of fieldwork during the
development of the practical work and its importance
to the final project.
194
4. CONCLUSIONS
The International Course on Remote Sensing and GIS has been
important and decisive to the current profession of all former
students.
[t makes possible the dissemination of Remote Sensing to
people who live far from the big technological centers,
becoming an important tool in the research and application
processes.
It attends a significant number of professions interested in the
use of this technology.
Most of these specialists have been working with the Remote
Sensing and GIS technology for more than 5 years in private
and public institutions, and universities.
In addition, this technology has been disseminating by them in
graduation courses and other company training and qualification
courses.
This course has motivated about 3096 of these specialists to
continue their studies in Post graduation Programmes. Now 23
of them have Master or Doctorate degree and 11 have been
studying in some Post graduation course.
Their performance during the International Course have been
quite satisfactory and fulfilled all objectives and requisites of it.
Consequently, it has been raising the course level year by year
and positioning it in a very good concept.
In addition, its teaching staff is composed of qualified
professionals of the Remote Sensing and GIS area of the
National Institute for Space Research and other Brazilian and
foreign institutions. Most of these professionals have been
involved directly with the applications of this technology for
more than 20 years.
However, the former students have commented about the lack
of equipments and an adequate room to attend their needs
during some course editions.
Firstly, it is important to point out that INPE, a government
institution, depends on the government's resources to make
improvements in its facilities and to modernize its equipments.
Unfortunately, this is not always possible and depends on the
economical conjuncture of the current government.
Therefore, in 2001 it was finally possible to accomplish the
modernization of the Computer Science Laboratory and the
equipments through the Brazilian funding agency, the FAPESP.
According to the students, in the 2002 and 2003 editions, the
course infrastructure and equipments have been attending their
needs, satisfactorily.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank all former students of the International
Course on Remote Sensing and GIS for providing updated
information and contributing to the assessment of the sixteen
years of its existence.