GIS Education at Geography Departments in Japanese Universities

Abstract

GIS education in Japan lags far behind that in Western developed countries, and the development of systematic GIS education in Japanese universities such as the preparation of a GIS standard curriculum is an urgent issue. This paper examines the present situation and recent trends of GIS education in geography departments of Japanese universities. The results indicate that there are three mismatches between the third draft of the Japan Standard GIS Core Curriculum and the actual situation of GIS education: the length of courses, the number of classes, and course style. The results of this study provided useful information to facilitate the effective usage of the final core curriculum.