The course is a mix of theory and practical elements that seek to build professional and practical competencies in students.  It offers high participation in field and computer lab practical activities, including on-site visits.  Students are also required to engage in structured professional practice and relevant internship best practices to develop work-based competencies.

Throughout the four-year tenure, students will be engaged in:

Geographic Information Sciences (GIS), which integrates the logic of the relationship between spatial data with sophisticated software and hardware to create realistic simulation in the real world with a wide range of analytical applications.

Hydrographic Surveying: Safe navigation, subaqueous construction and near shore civil works require knowledge of the depth and topography of the water bodies such as seabed. Other applications include: – measurement of water current, locations of rocks, bars, lights and buoys, determination of channel depth and preparation of charts, etc.  

Cadastral Surveying: This is a major area of surveying operations in Jamaica and the Caribbean and is concerned with legal determination of boundaries and areas of land properties. 

Engineering Surveying: This is an integral part of civil engineering projects, which entails the preparation of initial survey plans for detailed design, setting out critical points of construction and the measurement and monitoring of civil structures are types of work under this branch of surveying. 

Global Navigation Satellite Surveying (GNSS) utilizes modern technology of navigation and positioning using systems such as GPS that provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning of points using equipment capable of receiving signals from satellites and processing data using computer software. 

Course Code

UBSLSGIFXU1A/B

Entry Requirements

• 5 CSEC/GCE O-Level passes including English Language, Mathematics and three (3) other approved subjects. Preferred subjects include: Physics, Geography, Information Technology Technical Drawing. Additional Mathematics, Elementary Surveying (offered by some schools as a CSEC-level subject).
• Graduates from the Associate Degree in Surveying and Geographic Information Technology with a minimum GPA 2.70, may articulate into the programme with advanced placement into second year.

Career Opportunities

NB: This list is not exhaustive

• Pre-professional Surveyor
• Geomatician
• Photogrammetrist
• GIS Analyst
• GIS Specialist
• Spatial Science Educator
• Engineering Surveyor
• Hydrographic Surveyor