Devon Allen:

Kia ora, my name is Devon and I am a third year Bachelor of Surveying student at the University of Otago.

When I was at secondary school I was really interested in geography, but I didn’t want to be just a scientist. I was interested in land issues as well, which led me to surveying. My favourite part of surveying is the variety — one day we could be in the field working with high-tech specialist equipment, and the next day we could be inside learning about land issues.

When I graduate I wish to become a licensed Cadastral Surveyor. This will give me heaps of employment opportunities all the way around the world. So if this sounds like you, check out the Bachelor Surveying at the University of Otago.

Richard Hemi:

Kia ora and gidday, my name is Richard Hemi. I’m a lecturer at the National School of Surveying, Otago University.

So why the National School of Surveying? That’s because we are the only university program in the country that offers degrees in surveying. This allows us to have specialist staff in a wide range of surveying related topics. It also creates our, or helps our international reputation for the quality of our graduates.

At the school we offer four undergraduate degrees. There’s the Bachelor of Applied Science in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), the BSc in Land Planning Development — and you will be able to see separate Otago presentations on those two degrees. We also have the BSc in Survey Measurement and our mainstay, the Bachelor of Surveying.

All of these degrees have well-defined postgraduate pathways for professional recognition as either Licensed Cadastral Surveyors or Registered Professional Surveyors. For many years now, our graduates have enjoyed 100% employment, and this is part in due to the high demand for surveying all around the world, surveyors, and also what we believe about the quality of our graduates.

So what is surveying? Surveying is all about the measurement and mapping of land and property, the environment, our planet. And it uses a combination of maths and specialist technologies such as GPS and laser instruments and drones and remote, remotely operated vehicles. From this, the surveyor creates a close understanding of the land, and this leads to their involvement in the design of streets and neighbourhoods.

We’re also the experts in measurement, so a survey was heavily involved in the construction of bridges and motorways and build high-rise buildings and so forth. It also leads to an expertise in land and property law, and this is taught within the degrees so that students can go on to become what are called Licensed Cadastral Surveyors.

The school has proudly been serving/ surveying the spatial industry for 55 years plus now, and we believe this has fostered a really close-knit and welcoming environment — a learning environment for students.

Um, so if you value the land and the environment, you’re a problem solver either mathematically or with using design, and you think you would enjoy a wide variety of work and workplaces in surveying at Otago.