Can the Department of Labor’s Geospatial Competency Model Translate to the Needs of the European Union?
EUGISES is a collection of European Union (EU) geoscience educators who meet once every two years to exchange ideas and research relevant to geoscience higher education in Europe. The 2010 meeting took place September 9-12 in Serres, Greece and was hosted by Dimitris Kotzinos from the Department of Geoinformatics and Surveying at the Technical Education Institute of Serres. One major difference this year was the attendance by two community college educators from the U.S.; it was the first time a two-year college educator had attended and presented. The 2010 EUGISES meeting was an intimate gathering held in the remote town of Serres at the Elpida Hotel (Elpida is Greek for “hope”). Indeed, hope is precisely what is needed in Greece at the moment, as that country faces its most challenging economic conditions in decades. It was readily apparent that Greece is suffering a major “brain-drain” as its university graduates, the young and educated workforce, seek gainful employment elsewhere i
