Career prospects
On this page you will find information about possible career prospects for both academic and non-academic careers. Many graduates from the GIMA programme go on to find employment in research.
The GIMA programme aims at educating students to become;
- all-round managers of geo-information and/or
- all-round geo-information researchers and/or
- all-round geo-information application specialists.
Academic careers
GIMA is a fully-fledged Master of Science programme with ample attention for academic and research skills in the first six modules. The individual Master thesis research in the second part of the programme is a solid basis for a possible PhD. GIMA course participants have the advantage that they will be exposed to PhD opportunities at four Dutch universities.
Non-academic careers
GIMA graduates have excellent career prospects. Especially since the demand for managers and application specialists in geo-information in the professional market is still constantly increasing. It is our experience that our students find jobs very fast upon completion of the programme. All-round geo-information managers, -researchers and -application specialists are in high demand in many different fields of application and the number of experts in this field is scarce, adding to the career opportunities for our graduates.
Alumni work in the private sector with for example energy or utility companies, or in the field of geo-marketing or consulting. Furthermore, graduates could start their career in the public sector, like in research institutes, municipalities, or other governmental services. A combination of both sectors could also be possible.
Possible professional employment opportunities include:
- Business consultant at ESRI Nederland
ESRI Nederland is a dynamic and young IT company and market leader in the field of Geographical Information Systems. It sells the much used ArcGIS software. - GIS specialist and project leader at Prisma GeoCensus
Prisma GeoCensus is a private company dealing with geodesy, GIS, surveying, legal registrations, change detection and secondment. - Senior project leader at Kadaster
Kadaster is a non-departmental public body, under the political responsibility of the Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment. It is Kadaster’s statutory task to maintain a number of registrations. Examples are the registration of real estate, topography, ships and aircraft. Besides information from its own registrations, Kadaster also provides information from registrations of other parties. For them, Kadaster maintains so-called national facilities, by means of which Kadaster provides access to the data. Examples are the facilities for addresses and buildings, cables and pipelines, and energy labels. - Chief Meteorology at NATO
International meteorological office. Weather forecasting for aviation business. Development of Meteorological Information Systems (NAMIS, ICARUS): visualisation, communication and database handling. GIS aspects of meteorology. - GIS advisor at a ministry
Career development
Employment opportunities during the programme
During the GIMA master programme, students get ample opportunity to visit and meet with potential employers. Field trips, guest lectures, conference visits and workshops are all available to students to ensure their job market orientation and give them a sense of where they might find a job upon completion of the programme.
Experience has also shown that many GIMA students are offered jobs by the company or organisation where they did their internship. For this reason, GIMA allows students to end the programme with the internship instead of with the thesis. As the internship is an important element of GIMA, the programme maintains intensive contacts with potential internship providers and these providers have learned that vacancy announcements can quickly be made through GIMA communication channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Blackboard electronic learning environment).
Academic and professional knowledge and skills
After having completed the GIMA Master's programme you will have acquired:
- Knowledge and skills of management; ‘how to manage geo-information (projects/organisations)’.
- Knowledge of geo-information application fields; ‘where to apply geo-information’.
- Technological and methodological geo-information skills; ‘how to use geo-information technology’.
UU Career Services
UU Career Services offers training related to career orientation and job application skills; examples include writing an application letter and CV and conducting a job interview. You can find more information about career support on UU Career Services for Dutch students or UU Career Services for international students.
UU Careers Day
Once a year Utrecht University organises Career Day. The Career Day offer the opportunity to sign up for workshops and trainings, and to meet recruiters at the careers fair. It’s also possible to join a job application training or have your resume checked.