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Centre
for Space Science & Technology Education in Asia &
the Pacific
Centres & The Courses - Report
Dr.
V.K.Dadhwal
Director in charge
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Introduction |
The Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education have been set up under the auspices of the United Nations through its Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN-OOSA). The Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP) was established in India on November 1, 1995. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN-OOSA) facilitated the establishment of the Centre, acting on recommendations by the UNISPACE-II (1982) Conference and the UN Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (COPUOS), endorsed by the UN General Assembly.
The Centre's headquarters are located in Dehradun, India, and its programmes are executed by staff of the Department of Space (DOS) at campuses in Dehradun and Ahmedabad. The DOS institutions involved include the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) in Dehradun, and the Space Applications Centre (SAC) and the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), both at Ahmedabad. An agreement between CSSTEAP and UN-OOSA was signed in May 1996 to formalize the affiliation of the Centre to the UN.
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CSSTEAP Hqs. Dehradun: |
Similar UN-affiliated Regional Centres for Space Science & Technology Education have been set up in Morocco for Francophone Africa, in Nigeria for Anglophone Africa, in Brazil/Mexico for Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Jordan for the West Asia Region (Arabic countries). In addition, a network of collaborating institutions and countries is being established in Eastern Europe.
Each centre is conceived as an institution that should offer the best possible education, research and applications programmes, opportunities and experience to the participants in all its programmes. The principal goal of each centre is the development of the skills and knowledge of university educators, research and applications scientists through rigorous theory, research, applications, field exercises and pilot projects in specific aspects of space science and technology that can contribute to sustainable development in many countries of the regions. The mission of the Regional Centres is to establish national capabilities in developing countries to design and implement education, research and application programmes in space science and technology, in particular, in the areas of (1) Remote sensing & Geographic Information Systems, (2) Satellite Communications & Global Positioning Systems, (3) Satellite Meteorology & Global climate, and (4) Space & Atmospheric Sciences.
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Objectives of CSSTEAP |
More than half the world population lives in the Asia-Pacific Region. As a result, there is a large pressure on the natural resources of the region. There are widespread concerns about the quality of the environment, ranging from the consequences of climate change on food security and sea-level rise, to loss of biodiversity in marine and terrestrial ecosystems and the degradation of land and water resources. Other areas of concern in the Asia-Pacific Region relate to the management and mitigation of natural disasters, the occurrence of widespread and persistent poverty, poor education and health care facilities in rural areas, poor physical and communication infrastructure, etc.
Against this background, a major objective of the Centre is to create awareness regarding the potential of space science and technology for contributing to the solution of these environmental and related problems, and to establish and strengthen national capabilities in space science and technology, through education, training, application programmes and regional cooperation. To this end, the Centre organizes post-graduate level courses of 9-month duration in the major disciplines of space science and technology, workshops and short-term courses, and promotes cooperation in the field of space science and technology among institutions in countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, and with institutions in high-income countries.
Organization and Management of the Centre Ten countries signed the Agreement for the Establishment of CSSTEAP during a signing ceremony held on November 1, 1995 in New Delhi. As of today, fourteen countries have signed the Agreement. In addition to providing a formal UN affiliation to the Centre, UN-OOSA extends support in terms of expert advise, technical assistance and relevant documentation.
The Government of India has concluded a Host Country Agreement with the Centre by which it has accorded specific privileges and international status to the Centre, similar to the privileges enjoyed by UN Specialized Agencies. Under the Host Country Agreement the Centre also has access to facilities, infrastructure and expertise of DOS institutions, including IIRS, SAC and PRL. The Government of India has brought out an official gazette notification in pursuance of the host country agreement.
CSSTEAP is administered by an international Governing Board consisting of 15 member from 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region and two observers of representative of the United Nations (UN-OOSA) and the International Institute of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) in Enschede, The Netherlands. There is also an Advisory committee (AC) under the Governing Board which is composed of prominent individuals from government, academic and scientific communities. The function to AC is to provide guidance to the centre's technical programmes. At present there are 19 members in the AC.
CSSTEAP conducts all of its educational programmes in close collaboration with one of the DOS institutions and thus has direct access to their physical facilities and intellectual capabilities. In addition to providing facilities, infrastructure and skilled manpower, the Government of India, through the Department of Space, also provides most of the funding for the Centre. Funding for travel grants, tuition fees and scholarships of students of CSSTEAP is mainly provided by UN-OOSA, UNESCO, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok, Thailand, and the Department of Space and the Ministries of Finance and External Affairs of India.
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Educational Programmes |
All educational programmes are conducted in English. In principle, students are expected to be sufficiently fluent in English, but facilities for improving their English language skills are made available to those students who want to avail of this facility, upon their arrival on campus. The courses are taught in classroom environments with the use of modern teaching methods and tools, and also include multimedia tutorials for self-study. Practicals are given in the laboratories and skill development environments of the DOS institutions.
On each of the campuses, most of the teaching staff are drawn from the host institution (about 70% of the teaching time). Where desirable or needed, staff is drawn from other DOS institutions, or professional, scientific or academic institutions in India (some 20%) or from institutions or organizations outside India, that is, from the AP Region as well as from Europe, North America or the Pacific Rim (some 10% of the teaching time).
The Centre offers post-graduate (PG) level courses in the fields of:
- Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (RS & GIS
- Satellite Communication (SATCOM)
- Satellite Meteorology and Global Climate (SATMET), and
- Space and Atmospheric Sciences.
Successful completion of the 9-month PG-phase of the programme leads to the award of a post-graduate diploma by the Centre.
For those students who successfully finish their PG course and are interested in continuing for a Master of Technology (M. Tech) degree, the Centre offers the opportunity to do so, in collaboration with Andhra University (AU) in Visakhapatnam, India. To this end, the student has to complete a 1-year research project in an application of space science or technology. This project has to be approved by CSSTEAP and AU, and the research is supervised by designated academic staff of CSSTEAP, AU and the institution where the research is carried out. In most cases the 1-year project is carried out at the home institution of the student concerned. Few meritorious PG students are given fellowships to complete their M.Tech thesis work at CSTEAP or host institutions.
The Centre also conducts short-term courses, workshops and awareness seminars for scientists, technologists, teachers, policy-makers, decision-makers, planners, etc.
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Achievements |
The centre has played a major role in the development of curricula of various courses which are currently being followed by all the CSSTE's. All course materials are published by the Centre in the form of hard-copy lecture volumes and CD-ROM's. The Centre further publishes conference proceedings and other documents, such as general information brochures, announcement brochures and 'memoirs' for educational courses. A quarterly newsletter is published regularly and sent to all alumni and to persons and institutions associated with the Centre. Pilot research case studies in the form of students project works showing the potential application of space science and technology in natural resources management, improved meteorological and communications studies etc in Asia-Pacific region have been accomplished by the centre. Recently the centre initiated research activities in the form of phase II of PG courses M.Tech thesis work by selected meritorious students with all the financial support. The centre establishes international linkages with various organizations viz., UN-OOSA, ICIMOD, COSTED, UN-ESCAP, START-SASCOM, NAM S& T, JOFCA, IITO, WMO, TWAS etc.
Till date the Centre has conducted 21 PG courses: 9 on Remote Sensing and GIS, 4 on Satellite Communications and 4 each on Satellite Meteorology & Global Climate, and Space & Atmospheric Science. The Centre has further conducted 17 short courses and workshops in the past 10 years. These programmes have benefited some 612 participants from a total of 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. In addition to this about 26 participants from 16 countries outside Asia Pacific region have also been benefited from the educational programmes. This year, 5th SATCOM (12 participants from 06 countries) and 10th RS & GIS PG program (19 participants from 13 countries) will be successfully completed.
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