Sixty students and 10 tutors gathered in the historic Hungarian city of Sz�kesfeh�rv�r for the most recent session of the Geoinformation International Summer School (GISS), held August 14-19, 2003.

Known as the town where Hungarian kings were crowned, Sz�kesfeh�rv�r, 60 km southwest of Budapest, is the home of the University of West Hungary's College of Geoinformatics, which organized the event. The University of West Hungary had hosted the first Geoinformation International Summer School in GIS in September 2001 in Sopron, Hungary, which addressed technological and practical problems in GIS across boundaries.

GISS is an activity that the European Masters in Geographic Information Science (EMGISc) Erasmus Project and UNIGIS are committed to holding every year, to assure that students can continue to participate in international GIS learning experiences.

The EMGISc Erasmus Project is focused on the idea of having a standardized European qualification for postgraduate students and professionals working in the field of geographic information science and systems and seeks to achieve a uniform curriculum. UNIGIS is a network of universities cooperating in the design and delivery of distance learning in GIS. The UNIGIS program was founded in 1990 and currently includes sites in 14 countries.

Esri has been a sponsoring organization since the first year, providing books from Esri Press and ArcGIS software. Esri also provided fellowships for students who may not otherwise be able to participate and supported travel costs for UNIGIS instructors.

"The summer school had not only broadened my vision but also kept me on the right track of doing research in my area of interest," says Shahid Parvez of the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences.

In 2002 the summer school was held July 15-19, at the University of Girona, Spain.

For more information, visit geoweb.cslm.hu/giss.