USGIF Totals 13 Accredited Colleges and Universities

Herndon, Virginia, April 11, 2016 — The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) is excited to announce the addition of NOVA Information Management School of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa ( NOVA IMS), located in Lisbon, Portugal, to its growing list of USGIF-accredited GEOINT programs.

Through the USGIF Academic Accreditation program, colleges and universities around the globe have the opportunity to receive accreditation of their geospatial intelligence programs accompanying a college degree. Students who meet high academic standards and graduate from accredited programs receive USGIF’s GEOINT Certificate, which helps ensure the GEOINT Community has a robust workforce now and in the future. To date, nearly 600 students have graduated with USGIF GEOINT Certificates.

NOVA IMS is the first non-U.S. school to receive USGIF academic accreditation. The inclusion of NOVA IMS represents a major step for USGIF and signals the broadening of GEOINT as a globally recognized professional discipline. NOVA IMS’s GEOINT curriculum was developed collaboratively across its federated university structure and is truly interdisciplinary in its design.

"We at NOVA IMS are proud to be the first non-U.S. university to achieve USGIF accreditation,” said Dr. Marco Painho, NOVA IMS program coordinator.

The NOVA IMS GEOINT program includes a series of four required courses and a capstone GEOINT course covering spatial thinking, spatial modeling and analytics, image analysis and classification, data management, and reporting. In addition, students choose three to four elective courses and write a thesis.

“This accreditation is very important for NOVA IMS since it certifies that the master’s program in geographic information systems and science follows the highest international standards in the area,” said NOVA IMS Dean Dr. Pedro Coelho. “This will constitute an additional incentive for the school to be committed with goals of excellence in all its activities. The certification will also reinforce our international focus and create new opportunities for our graduates.”

To date, USGIF has accredited 13 collegiate programs, including NOVA IMS, the University of Southern California, Fayetteville State University, the University of South Carolina, Northeastern University, the University of Redlands, the University of Utah, George Mason University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Texas at Dallas, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Several more programs are in USGIF’s academic accreditation pipeline.

About USGIF

USGIF is a nonprofit educational foundation dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a stronger GEOINT Community with government, industry, academia, professional organizations, and individuals who develop and apply geospatial intelligence to address national security challenges. USGIF’s mission is to build the community, advance the tradecraft, and accelerate innovation.

For more information, please visit www.USGIF.org and follow USGIF on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Contacts:
Kristin Quinn
Publications & Communications Manager
United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation
703-793-0109, ext. 115
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