With more than 1,000 current students, UniSQ’s surveying and spatial programs are growing strongly as the university keeps pace with a changing profession and the latest technologies.
As the Australian geospatial sector continues to grapple with an urgent workforce shortage, demand is growing for a surveying education at the University of Southern Queensland’s (UniSQ) School of Science, Engineering, and Digital Technologies.
Equivalent full-time student load across UniSQ’s surveying and spatial programs has increased by almost 50 per cent since 2021, with particularly strong growth since 2023.
In fact, this year there are 1,033 students enrolled and active in four programs: Undergraduate Certificate of Surveying, Associate Degree of Surveying, Bachelor of Surveying Technology, and Bachelor of Surveying Honours.
This growth has been assisted through the support of 19 different sponsors, who have enabled UniSQ to employ a dedicated school liaison coordinator for the last three years. The Surveyors’ Trust has now stepped in to provide that support until the end of 2029.
The UniSQ academic team has been renewed, too. Following the retirement of several long-serving academics, four new staff members have been appointed:
- Dr Jun Wang brings expertise in geodetic surveying, high-precision GNSS positioning and integrated sensing for infrastructure and environmental monitoring.
- Dr Desmond Zhang’s expertise spans multi-sensor positioning, GNSS, LiDAR, UAV photogrammetry, mobile mapping and digital twins.
- Mr Matt Arnold adds more than 30 years of professional experience across cadastral, engineering, construction and geospatial surveying.
- Dr Peyman Jafary will soon join the team, bringing expertise across surveying and geomatics, GIS, GeoAI, BIM and digital infrastructure.
“These appointments strengthen the university’s capability across both the foundations of professional surveying and newer areas of geospatial technology,” said Dr Armin Agha Karimi, UniSQ’s Program Director of Surveying and Spatial Science.
Engagement and enduring foundations
Industry engagement is important part of the university’s surveying and spatial science programs. Its annual Meet & Greet event connects students directly with employers; around 25 companies participated in 2026.
And an annual Honours Conference gives final-year students the chance to present their research to industry, and there is also engagement with external professional and technology events.
Several recent Honours projects have also progressed to peer-reviewed publications, spanning BIM-enabled 3D cadastre, UAV LiDAR and artificial intelligence, and Indigenous-derived boundaries and Australian boundary law.
“Graduates need exposure to technologies shaping contemporary practice, but surveying education cannot become training for particular software or equipment that may quickly change,” said Dr Karimi.
“The challenge now is to ensure that the next generation of surveyors is not only comfortable with the technologies transforming the profession, but equipped with the fundamentals to shape what comes next.”
To that end, UniSQ continues to review and update its curriculum to reflect changes in professional practice, while maintaining the core surveying knowledge expected of graduates.
A recent example is the introduction of dedicated UAV mapping and photogrammetry teaching, providing students with greater exposure to contemporary data acquisition and mapping workflows. This curriculum renewal continues as emerging areas such as BIM and digital twins become increasingly relevant to surveying through reality capture, georeferencing and the integration of physical and digital environments.
“Yet for all that, the enduring foundations remain: measurement, uncertainty, reference systems, spatial evidence, boundaries and professional judgement,” said Dr Karimi.
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