IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2014 - 32

34
16

18
10

Finland
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom

Figure 4. Tracks found relevant to aerospace in the considered
statistical sample.

but from a more generic viewpoint. Classical courses
are always found on data compression techniques, advanced encoding, telecommunication protocols and
digital communication. However, there are also hints,
more or less marked, to Earth observation, optical or
radar sensors and satellite principles. We find this type
of educational offer at University of Southampton, University of Leeds, University of Leicester, University of
Florence, University of Naples "Parthenope", University
of Pavia (from the current year), University of Delft,
University of Grenoble (INP), University of Grenoble
(Joseph Fourier), University of Toulouse, Polytechnic of
Paris and University of Aalto.
◗ MSc in Geography and GIS or "Aerospace Environmental Applications": this third category consists
of degrees focused on Remote Sensing for environmental purposes. The use of satellite images to create 2D/3D maps or the theory and practice of GIS, to
monitor environmental transformation and to observe forest, oceans, glacier or urban
AerospAce educAtion
area are just some of the typical
in europe is set to
main topics of classical courses
roll on well into the
in this category. To do this, stuenvisAged "knowledge
dents are taught photogramAnd innovAtion society."
metry, image interpretation
and geospatial/image processing software. Courses relevant
to the aerospace domain are
found, but the offered degrees largely overlap with geography and Earth science subjects. Many offers of this
type were found, each with a different level of specialization, across all the considered European countries.
This category was mostly reported within a science
department/faculty/school and, for example, it is present at: University of Cambridge, University of Oxford,
University of Leicester, University of Reading, Imperial College London, University of Lausanne, Polytechnic of Zurich, University of Extremadura, Polytechnic
of Madrid, University of Hannover, University of Trier,
32

TUM (Munich polytechnic University), University of
Karlsruhe, University of Paris "Pantheon Sorbonne",
University of Rennes, University of Amsterdam, University of Twente and University of Aalto.
In addition to the three categories above, where aerospace is the rationale or at least a major driver, we frequently found what we may add as a fourth, minor type.
This consists of generic degrees in telecommunication
Engineering which include one or a few courses relevant to aerospace. This type of MSc provides a basic
knowledge in all communications and signal processing
subjects, included some within aerospace (e.g. processing
of remotely sensed data, long-range antennas, ...). The
typical pattern shows very few courses regarding Remote
Sensing, radar techniques and image processing, together
with deepening of digital/optical communication, system
and communication network, antennas and EM propagation and coding techniques. Usually, these degrees are
proposed by small-to medium-sized universities, with
some exceptions. For example University of Valencia,
Polytechnic of Catalunya, Polytechnic of Lausanne, University of Sheffield, University of Pavia (until last year),
University of Trento, University of Karlsruhe and University of Delft choose to offer this type of MSc course.
The three main types of courses can be summarized in
a simplified scheme like the one we depicted in Figure 5.
Disciplines that were not found frequently are space
exploration and deep space observation. These are sometimes found in physics curricula (e.g. University of Oslo,
University of Leicester), but are usually dealt with extensively in PhD courses.
As we have shown, there are lots of common lines in
European technical education in aerospace; though, each
country shows peculiar characteristics. In Italy, for example, aerospace education is almost always found within
engineering MSc tracks, in "Aerospace Hardware" and
"Aerospace Software" groups, but also in the generic telecommunication Engineering, which is offered very often.
By contrast, in Germany the most frequent degree related
to Aerospace is of the "Geography and environmental"
type, although we can find some degrees belonging to
the first type. Quite similar to Germany is the situation
in Switzerland and France, although the latter offers more
"Aerospace Software" than "Aerospace Hardware". In UK
all of the three types are well represented, although the first
one prevails. Tracks were found offering deep insight into
Aerospace structures. In Spain, in the Netherlands and in
Scandinavian countries track types are evenly represented.
After the MSc, students may attend a specializing Master in the aerospace field. Not only universities but also
private institutes offer this chance, which however was
found not to be too frequent. Master courses do often
add the economic and management side of aerospace
missions to an in-depth analysis some aerospace technical topics. The presence of this post-graduate Master
courses is generally connected to research activities in the
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2014