Employees of World center for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development Katerina Doroshenko and Viktor Putrenko undergone training at Vancouver Island University (Canada) and received the certificates of improving teaching skills and curriculum development in the field of geographic information systems.

Internship was carried out under the Project «Laying the Foundation for a Spatial Data Infrastructure: Building Capacity within the Ukrainian Government to Support Sustainable Economic Growth» implemented in Ukraine with the support of the Canadian government by Vancouver Island University (VIU) and its and its Ukrainian partners: World Data Center for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development, National Technical University of Ukraine "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" and the geographical faculty of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Training took place in May 2014 at the Faculty of International Education of VIU. The development of courses in teaching geographic information systems, distance learning methods, applied use of geographic information systems in the creation of geospatial data infrastructure, methods of processing satellite images have been the main areas of training. Simultaneously with the start of the internship, final agreement between NTUU "KPI" and VIU on cooperation under the Project was signed.

In addition to the fruitful work with Canadian lecturers, during the training the employees also had the opportunity to become acquainted with the natural and cultural heritage of British Columbia. In particular, they visited the Pacific Rim National Park, the capital of the province - Victoria and the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability at the University of British Columbia.

We hope that the Canadian experience in the field of geoinformatics will help Victor Putrenko and Katerina Doroshenko in their further research and teaching activities in the course of development of relevant training programs and courses.

Inf. WDC
Translator: Анастасія Міненко ЛА-12