Acadia University teamed up with COGS (Centre of Geographic Sciences) in 2005 to provide a unique joint Master of Science in Applied Geomatics program.

The Masters program is a full 2 year program of collaborative technical coursework, research and data analysis, where graduate students spend 2 semesters at COGS (or AGRG – Applied Geomatics Research Group), 2 semesters at Acadia University (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences) and then 2 semesters on their thesis research at either schools. This unique faculty offers students to complete their Thesis / Research Project under joint supervision with a combination of technical and academic emphasizes.

“The fundamental relevance of this program is that its graduates will be fully competent to tackle existing or predicted environmental problems, from solid theoretical and practical foundations, using a variety of skills, and an array of new technologies. Graduates of this program will become society and industry leaders in: mapping, planning, analysis, understanding and stewardship of the natural environment.”

The joint collaboration between the two education institutes allows students to further build upon their solid undergraduate foundation that they got from their University degree, adding skills in research, analysis, interpretation and presentations.

This method is believed to provide students with an added edge to help them better compete in the Geomatics industry. COGS & AGRG help provide students with the latest Geomatics software and technology while Acadia provides students with scientific tools and accredited resources. For example AGRG is one of the few education institutes in North America that have their own LIDAR survey equipment allowing students to gain more experiences from their research that they may not obtain from other schools.

[source: acadia.ca / COGS & Acadia Alumni]