Time span: yearly from september to January. (registration before July 1).
Times: for component 1 (September and October), classes start at 11:00 (monday to friday and no classes on Wednesdays) to give ample time for students from Groningen, Zeeland and Tilburg to take part. For component 2 and 3 depends on student selection.
Location: in September and October at the VU. November and december depends on the host of the Research Assignment module (see internship). in January at the VU again or at UU in spring for the elective/specialization course.
Study effort/credits: 30 ECs
Pre-requisites: recommended that you have followed one introductory course on GIS. Such as: Digitale Ruimtelijke Data (at the VU), Introductie GIS / Cartografie (at UU), Introduction Geo-Information Science (at WUR). If you have not taken a GIS course before, please contact the minor coordinator to discuss if the minor is the right choice for you. Maybe you could do extra activities in the summer to be at level for the minor in September.
Language: lectures and materials are in English (component 1 and 3) for the Research assignment internship language depends on the host institution preference.
Costs: for regular students in higher education in the Netherlands there are no extra costs (except books, commuting, and you need a computer (with windows installed) to run the GIS software. For professionals and other non-students costs are 185 euro per EC or 5500 euro for a full 30 EC minor (see VU contract onderwijs information).
Book: we use the text book “Geographic Information Science and Systems”, 4th edition by Paul A. Longley, Michael F. Goodchild, David J. Maguire, David W. Rhind. published by Wiley, 2015. (Amazon Link, bol.com, BookDepository).
Hardware: you also need a laptop or home computer to run ArcGIS Pro (see system requirements). Software (including license) provided by this study program to all enrolled students.