Esri India and IIEST Shibpur launch Center of Geospatial Excellence
The center is being established to impart geographic information system (GIS) skills to graduates and working professionals through a set of comprehensive Geospatial education programs.
The institute will launch various short and long-term programmes that will be co-designed with senior faculty members from IIEST and domain experts from Esri India.
These programs will focus on foundational Geoinformatics and its applications in various government programs like Smart Cities, Digital India, Clean Ganga etc.
As per the report by the National Task Force on Geospatial Education (under the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India), India has less than 31,000 GIS tech professionals as against a requirement of 70,000.
There are very few institutions in the country providing geospatial education, resulting in a serious shortfall in the availability of trained GIS professionals.
Commenting on the collaboration, Agendra Kumar, President, Esri India said, “Esri India acknowledges the urgent need for geospatial skills in India which are critical for country’s transformation and, together with the educational institutions, aims to impart geospatial education to help industry overcome the talent deficit in GIS.”
Padma Shri Prof. Ajoy Kumar Ray, Director, IIEST, Shibpur, said, “We achieved an important milestone today with this collaboration with Esri India; in today’s technology driven environment we cannot afford to leave the added advantage of understanding ‘Location Intelligence’ that will make our students career ready for GIS opportunities.”
“GIS goes beyond what users know of maps. It brings out the importance and value of the location in every business scenario. Students would be able to understand the multi-disciplinary nature of GIS and also its applications in various domains,” he added.
Esri India has been supporting the academia and equipping them with the GIS know-how through various initiatives and programs. It plans to establish similar centres in various regions across the country in collaboration with educational institutions.
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