An Internship amongst Millions of Points

During the Geomatics Engineering Course at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, the students undertake a compulsory internship. This practical work takes place outside the Institute. The main locations for practical work are the following: engineering and planning offices, industrial and geodetic companies. This internship typically takes place during the seventh of ten terms and is required to be a minimum of four months duration. The objectives of this internship are to strengthen the practical know how and also enables the geomatics engineering students to become familiar with the professional handling of geomatic questions. The work experience is intended to promote an understanding of the general political, and economic constraints under which geomatic solutions can be developed and implemented. This is an important step to translate the knowledge into actions beyond that which was acquired during the three previous years at the university. The ability to combine knowledge from different courses to solve a certain problem is a challenge as well as a training to develop work oriented solutions. Additionally to that, work conditions are influenced by a tight processing and delivery schedule and bring a new aspect into student’s work habits.