IMCA's offshore survey contractor members, as the employers of a significant proportion of the new graduates from survey/geomatics courses, have set out what they were looking for in the graduates they recruit.

Over recent years these companies have been concerned that graduates from survey courses that they recruit are not equipped with the expected level of knowledge upon completing their course and that knowledge acquired from different courses can vary considerably. This has resulted in the companies having to provide a further level of training to ensure that staff surveyors have these basic skills, in addition to the necessary company- and job-specific training

This document has been developed to provide guidance to university departments on areas that IMCA would expect a surveyor to have knowledge of upon completion of an under-graduate or postgraduate course in surveying. The guidance has been reviewed and updated in 2008, reflecting current practice and particularly addressing technological developments.