SURVEYING: A PROFESSION FACING A GLOBAL CRISIS?

Abstract

The surveying profession, in different parts of the world, report a range of major problems, including low student numbers, closure of surveying courses, an aging teaching profession, inadequate job opportunities in some locations, and an insufficient supply of graduates to fill the vacancies in others. There are challenges of new technologies within both education content and delivery and the risks associated with non-specialist data uses. Overarching these problems appears to be the lack of any clear international recognition of a 21st century definition of the profession of “surveying” and thus a failure to promote, at a global level, a clear, coherent “surveying” message to both clients and to the broader public. Indeed, there is evidence that some skills that are recognized and valued as being part of the surveying profession in some countries are not considered in the same light in others. This paper examines these issues, concluding that the global surveying profession is indeed lacking a clear, coherent message and that the mounting issues, if not addressed quickly, have the potential to affect severely the development of the profession and to assume crisis proportions.