If measuring the earth is a field that interests you, IIT Kanpur is the right place for you. The institute had recently started a Diploma of IIT (D-IIT) in Geodesy. The Diploma will be offered by the Department of Civil Engineering in three broad areas —  Geodesy, Navigation and Mapping, and Remote Sensing and GIS.

"Geodesy is identified as one of the fields of science, where there is a scarcity of well-qualified technical human resources, research activities, and geodetic infrastructure at the national level. The area has several applications such as infrastructure development, climate studies, military, miscellaneous location-based services, large scale mapping for natural resources, agricultural applications, disaster studies, etc," says professor Onkar Dikshit of the Department of Civil Engineering. "The initiation of the DIIT program in Geodesy is a step forward towards generating well-trained human resource and industry-academia collaboration in Geodesy and relevant disciplines," he says.

The admissions for the course will begin in July 2021. Dikshit says that it is aimed at working professionals in government institutions, industry and faculty members in academic institutions involved in teaching and R&D in Geoinformatics. "The program would also encourage research projects aimed at developing geodetic technology and national geodetic infrastructure," he says.

While the eligibility criteria are the same as for the MTech/MS(R) programmes, the institute has waived off GATE for working professionals. Each DIIT programme will offer 16 seats, of which 12 are selected through the National Centre for Geodesy (NCG), while the remaining four students are sponsored, candidates.