FIG Vice President Dr. Ralf Schroth, from Hansa Luftbild, Germany gave a module of the International Master Programme in Airbourne Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing under the title “Fundamentals of Economics and Management in Airborne Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Organizations” 29 March to 2 April 2004 at the premises of the Institute of Geomatics in Castelldefels (Barcelona, Spain) as part of the continuous educational activities of the Institute. Its objective is to promote the advances in geomatics and, at the same time, to be a place of technical discussion. There were ten students from different educational backgrounds. This course has been organized by the Institute of Geomatics and sponsored by the company CONPIE and with the collaboration of the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya (ICC), the company AURENSIS, S.A and the Technical University of Catalonia.

Dr. Schroth, started the course giving a general introduction about the demands on young professionals in the field of APRS organizations. The fundamentals of structuring organizations and enterprises together with the basics of financing and accounting (balance sheet, profit and loss statements, cash flow management) built up the first part of the lecture. The second part was focusing on tenders and offers including the cost accounting and the project controlling. Finally, human resource management, sales and marketing and international management were closing the module. All the different chapters were accompanied by exercises (given with the assistance of Mrs. Iwona Maciejewska from AURENSIS) and tests out of practical applications and real projects. So the students could bring in their own experiences and learn from projects on a given theoretical background. The Institute of Geomatics is a public consortium of the Generalitat de Catalunya (the regional government of Catalonia) and the Technical University of Catalonia. This non-profit consortium has full legal entity and independence for the achievements of its objectives. The mission of the Institute of Geomatics is the development of Geomatics through applied research and education in support of society, institutional and industrial needs both at national and international levels.