Page 15 - 2022- 49.4

Cons of advanced education requirements:

It’s hard to argue with the fact that education is important. But is it helping the profession out of its current predicament? Many would
say no.

The original intent of the education requirement was for us to get equal footing with other professions, period. To validate land
surveyors as professionals not as an occupation. At the time, expanding the workforce wasn’t a key part of that conversation. Many
surveyors now question how long we are going to continue to pursue degree requirements as we watch our profession die out.

To keep our profession alive, there is a clear argument to embrace non-education paths to surveying.

It’s possible to require training and tests to become a professional land surveyor without requiring a degree. Those surveyors who want
a degree could certainly obtain one, but there should also be other clear paths to the profession.

It can be hard to sell exactly how a degree helps you as a professional, especially when surveying best practices sometimes outpace
classroom curriculum. Trade school and certifications could also do the trick of setting a bar for licensure and provide more direct and
relevant education in the process.

Students leaving a 4-year degree don’t know everything. And even those obtaining a degree in surveying only have very few credit
hours directly related to surveying. They may not even know how to find a corner until they get on-the-job experience.

There is also the fact to consider that most young surveyors have no interest in going back to school to get licensed. But they might be
persuaded to pursue other avenues to professionalism if those options were offered with unified clarity.

The challenges facing higher education programs

Requiring a four-year degree is one thing, but requiring a four-year degree in surveying
is another. It’s becoming more complicated each year as more and more universities
fail to see the value in their surveying program, and drop it.

Over the last couple of years, our education committee interaction has been lacking.
For example, money collected over the last decade with the intention of endowing a
chair at Fresno State has never materialized.

Funding is probably the biggest problem facing surveying programs, and the next
problem is the perceived relevancy of the curriculum.

Of the universities that do have surveying programs, is there a way to know for sure if they are meeting the needs of the profession?
The primary reason that a degree is useful is because of rapid changes to technology. But if schools don’t have access to that
technology, or are using technology that is 10 years old, is anyone benefiting?

Some programs have obtained classroom technology by partnering with local survey firms to borrow the latest equipment for labs.
Others have partnered with vendors like Leica USA or even Trimble to have the latest equipment donated, then giving it back so the
vendor can sell it to survey firms at a reduced rate. But those formalized partnerships seem to be the exception to the rule, rather than
the norm.
The value of the CST exam

One program that we can utilize more heavily is the CST program. Currently,
the program is most active on the east coast, but it is beginning to see wider
adoption and recognition out west.
The CST level three is technically equivalent to an LSI, while the CST level four
is almost equivalent to the knowledge of a licensed surveyor.

In states like Florida, in order to work on any Florida DOT work, your party
chief must be a CST. In Nevada, some of the local municipalities are going to
add additional points if you have CST on your staff.
One current downside is that it is expensive to obtain your CST and upkeep it.
Approximately 500 CST exams are administered yearly, and only 2,200 are active. The CST level one is often free, but if individuals don’t
see a clear benefit, they don’t renew. If employers were to provide a monetary incentive to take the
CST and keep it up, we would see higher involvement. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 36 u

The Nevada Traverse Vol.49, No.4, 2022 13