Master's in Geographical Information Management and Applications

GIMA is a master's programme taught in English that may be followed full-time (2 years), part-time (4 years) or through flexible study. The study programme includes both taught courses, an internship, and research, awarding a total of 120 points in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

The GIMA programme is built on blended learning. That means most of the time you can study wherever works best for you, whether at home or at one of the four participating universities.  

We kick off each module with two weeks of live sessions that you are expected to attend in person. These on-campus sessions feature lectures, mid term presentations, assignments and explanations of the upcoming program activities.  

The next 12 weeks are devoted to remote learning, during which you can study under the guidance of our lecturers using our electronic learning environment from any location.  

You can also choose to study on-campus and work on the (group) assignments there. Each module concludes with on-campus sessions at one of the four universities. In total, you will have four on-campus periods of two weeks during the first year, alternated with four 12-week periods of remote learning. 

You can find the general course outline of the GIMA programme at the Utrecht University website with more information on what you will learn. 

In the second year you will write your thesis and do internship as at any other classical programme. You can write your thesis from wherever you like consulting your supervisor regularly. And naturally, you must be physically present at the geo-information company or institute when you do an internship.

• Blended learning programme: combining online hybride learning with physical presence.
• Lectures: a lecturer covers the course material in class.
• Tutorials: you complete an individual or small-group assignment.
• Labs: these are primarily computer labs where you work with data and statistical models.
• Problem-Based Learning (PBL): you work with a group and a supervisor on a case study that you must solve.
• Self-study: self-study is included in your schedule, but you can also schedule it outside of it. 

Lecturers, study advisor, and student counsellors are available to help you progress through your studies. This reduces the risk of you dropping out and adds a personal touch that enhances your academic experience. 

Master Geo-information Science is a regular fully on campus WUR programme focusing on GIS and integration of environmntal and life sciences themes. Geographical Information Management and Applications (GIMA)  is a blended learning (partly on campus, partly online) programme shared with 4 universities (joint-degree). It focuses on GIS and its broad applications, and also on the management aspects of spatial data and GIS projects.  

Check more information on Studiekeuze123.nl. 

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’s 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 Groep
  Prisma Groep 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 

Student Career Services facilitates WUR students towards the labour market. If you need help in your orientation towards your future career. 

Interested in taking part in the programme of Geographical Information Management and Applications? Find out more about the specific Admission requirements and the application procedures. 

Contact us to discuss the possibilities of a pre-master or how to mitigate knowledge gaps if you are still in the process of obtaining your degree.

Learning comes at a price. Curious about the budget you’ll need? All information about the costs of this programme can be found on this page. 

This programme will be partly All information about student life in Wageningen can be found on this page.