:: Land Survey Degrees
An associate degree is the most typical degree program available for land surveyors and can best prepare them for entry-level positions surveying land for construction and zoning projects.
Land surveying is the science of analyzing and mapping out land formations. Before working on their own, surveyors must be licensed by the states where they practice. Requirements vary, but generally include passing exams and acquiring supervised experience in the field. Individuals interested in becoming professional land surveyors can earn an Associate of Applied Science degree in Land Surveying, an Associate of Applied Science degree in Mapping Sciences, an Associate of Science degree in Surveying Technology, or a similar degree.
The majority of an associate degree program in land surveying is spent outdoors. Although students do learn about mapping theory and science in the classroom, they gain their hands-on experience putting mapping techniques to actual use on land. They learn first-hand how to do field surveying, read construction layouts, collect data, measure distances and record the contours of the surfaces of the earth. The courses in an associate degree program in land surveying are designed to provide students with the technical savvy necessary to analyze a land formation and create a subsequent map. Class work is divided between seminars and field time, and generally covers the topics below:
- Basic surveying
- Precalculus
- Plan surveying
- Legal aspects of land surveying
- Engineering graphics
Surveyors held 44,300 jobs in the United States in 2014, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate of job growth for surveyors is expected to decline at a rate of -2% between 2014 and 2024. In 2015, the median annual wages for surveyors were $58,020.
All 50 states in the U.S. require land surveyors gain licensure before practicing in the field, but each state has its own particular requirements for licensure. Most require individuals pass a written examination given by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). The next step is typically to work under the supervision of a licensed surveyor or surveyor team for another four years, before taking another exam and eventually facing a state licensing board.
Degrees in land surveying will cover courses in areas like engineering graphics and plan surveying. Licensure will be required for employment, which might include passing an exam and experience in the field.
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. According to Kaplan business schools are "educational institutions that specialize in teaching courses and programs related to business and/or management". Such a school can also be known as school of management, school of business administration, or colloquially b-school or biz school. A business school teaches topics such as accounting, administration, strategy, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, human resource management, management science, management information systems, international business, logistics, marketing, organizational psychology, organizational behavior, public relations, research methods and real estate among others.
There are several forms of business schools, including a school of business, business administration, and management.
- Most of the university business schools consist of faculties, colleges, or departments within the university, and predominantly teach business courses (e.g. Mannheim Business School).
- In North America, a business school is often understood to be a university program that offers a graduate Master of Business Administration degrees and/or undergraduate bachelor's degrees (e.g. Harvard Business School).
- In Europe and Asia, some universities teach predominantly business courses (e.g. Copenhagen Business School).
- Privately owned business school which is not affiliated with any university (e.g. WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management).
Kaplan classifies business schools along four Corners:
- Culture (Europe - US): Independent of their actual (physical) location, business schools can be classified according to whether they follow the European or the US model.
- Compass (international/global – regional/local): Business schools can be classified along a continuum, with international/ global schools on one end and regional/ local schools on the other.
- Capital (public – private): Business schools can either be publicly (state) funded or privately funded, for example through endowments or tuition fees.
- Content (teaching – research): Business school can be classified according to whether a school considers teaching or research to be its primary focus.
Some business schools structure their teaching around the use of case studies (i.e. the case method). Case studies have been used in Graduate and Undergraduate business education for nearly one hundred years. Business cases are historical descriptions of actual business situations. Typically, information is presented about a business firm's products, markets, competition, financial structure, sales volumes, management, employees and other factors influencing the firm's success. The length of a business case study may range from two or three pages to 30 pages, or more.
Students are expected to scrutinize the case study and prepare to discuss strategies and tactics that the firm should employ in the future. Three different methods have been used in business case teaching:
- Preparing case-specific questions to be answered by the student. This is used with short cases intended for Undergraduate students. The underlying concept is that such students need specific guidance to be able to analyze case studies.
- Problem-solving analysis is the second method initiated by the Harvard Business School which is by far the most widely used method in MBA and executive development programs. The underlying concept is that with enough practice (hundreds of case analyses) students develop intuitive skills for analyzing and resolving complex business situations. Successful implementation of this method depends heavily on the skills of the discussion leader.
- A generally applicable strategic planning approach. This third method does not require students to analyze hundreds of cases. A strategic planning model is provided and students are instructed to apply the steps of the model to six – and up to a dozen cases – during a semester. This is sufficient to develop their ability to analyze a complex situation, generate a variety of possible strategies and to select the best ones. In effect, students learn a generally applicable approach to analyze cases studies and real situations. This approach does not make any extraordinary demands on the artistic and dramatic talents of the teacher. Consequently, most professors are capable of supervising the application of this method.
In contrast to the case method some schools use a skills-based approach in teaching business. This approach emphasizes quantitative methods, in particular operations research, management information systems, statistics, organizational behavior, modeling and simulation, and decision science. The leading institution in this method is the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. The goal is to provide students a set of tools that will prepare them to tackle and solve problems.
In addition to teaching students, many business schools run Executive Education programs. These may be either open programs or company-specific programs. Executives may also acquire an MBA title in an Executive MBA program within university of business or from top ranked business schools. Many business schools seek close co-operation with business.
School Description
School Description
In this program you learn about public land survey systems, surveying
and astronomy, state plane coordinates and advanced math calculations.
Learn the Westwood high-tech approach to Surveying by using AutoCAD software
to develop site plots and Global Position Satellite (GPS) data to construct
boundary plots.
Enjoy numerous field-based learning experiences to practice your surveying
skills, including a Polaris plot activity and the extended (multi-day)
field experiences where actual verification of existing surveys are completed
for groups such as the Bureau of Land Management.
Laboratories and Equipment
- Drafting laboratory containing individual student workstations
equipped with drafting table, stools, and parallel bar.
- Surveying equipment, including theodolites and electronic
distance measuring devices and basic surveying equipment needed to conduct
field projects.
- Student tools include a hand-held programmable computer
in field survey calculations.
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