Over 69 percent of research submitted by UHI for independent review achieves the two highest grades – internationally excellent and world leading.  Projects are assessed from the fields of Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology and Area Studies. Students from these, and other disciplines, have already received training from thinkWhere with further courses booked later this year.

“Graduate students identify specific training needs as part of their analysis and progress monitoring,” commented Val Cooper, Graduate School Training Officer. “If these needs cannot be met internally, by colleagues or university staff, then we look to the commercial sector for help. Having shortlisted thinkWhere as a possible provider of training courses, their flexible approach, delivery mechanisms and value for money made them an obvious service partner.”

Working alongside staff from the UHI Graduate Office, thinkWhere has already delivered a number of courses both onsite at UHI campus locations and at its dedicated training facility in Stirling. Courses delivered have included QGIS Beginner, Advanced and Fast Track, QField for QGIS as well as PostGIS User and Administrator. QGIS is the free, open source cross-platform desktop GIS, and PostGIS is the open source software that adds support for geographical objects to PostgreSQL databases.

Feedback from UHI training delegates on the thinkWhere courses attended has included; “A very good trainer; keen, knowledgeable and likeable making the whole session enjoyable”, “The trainer was able to provide insight into real world projects and therefore the wider capabilities of GIS making the session both interesting and valuable” and “This was the best training I have received in my university career, probably in any employment I have been in!”.

Based in Inverness, UHI is the only university in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and with over 50 learning centres UHI covers an area that exceeds that of Belgium. Given the geographical challenges of reaching such a dispersed population, UHI has become a world leader in online learning and virtual classroom technology.

thinkWhere provides an online platform for storing, sharing and using maps and geographic data. Utilising Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies, thinkWhere has developed cloud-based software applications and tools, backed by a wide range of Open GIS implementation, consultancy and training services.

Based in the historic city of Stirling, Scotland, with customers across the UK and worldwide, thinkWhere pioneered the development of web-based platforms for collaborative GIS products and services. The company has a 25 year proven track record of delivering solutions at local, regional and national levels in the UK public and commercial sectors.