The SSSI applauds the decision of the Federal Government to develop infrastructure in Australia. Members of SSSI play an essential role in planning, location and construction of infrastructure.
The SSSI also applauds the government’s decision to expand access to higher education in providing more courses, greater diversity and more skills for our workforce. Members of SSSI depend on graduates from higher education as employees to provide the mapping data that is the basis of all infrastructure development, support the development of the infrastructure, as well as ensure the integrity of the land titling system.
The SSSI expresses its serious concerns that this expansion in courses will divert students away from surveying and spatial science courses. This will impact on the number of graduates in surveying and spatial sciences and threaten the ability of the profession to support future the infrastructure developments.
Current studies reveal that even without an expansion in infrastructure there will be insufficient graduates in surveying and spatial sciences this decade, thus putting at risk billions of dollars of infrastructure and housing development. The expansion of infrastructure will cause an even greater crisis in the availability of surveying and spatial science professionals.
The Institute urges the government to place special emphasis on recruitment of students into higher education courses in surveying and spatial sciences so that adequate graduates will be available at the height of the government’s infrastructure development later this decade.
Professor John Trinder
President
Surveying and Spatial Science Institute
The Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) is Australia’s peak body representing the interests of surveying and spatial science professionals, combining the disciplines of land surveying, engineering & mining surveying, cartography, hydrography, remote sensing and spatial information science.
I should note here that these thoughts are not those of the Spatial Source editorial staff.
