A global pandemic can’t keep surveyors down!

For a profession that offers its workers such a wide variety of working environments – from indoors in the office to construction sites, rural areas, sea vessels and more – it isn’t surprising to see surveyors stepping back outdoors the first moment that they can.

This goes just as much for those studying surveying at a tertiary level in 2020. While it seems likely that tertiary classes in 2021 will not be impeded with the type of social restrictions that the 2020 cohort have been dealing with – which at some points has seen students connecting with the material largely through online learning platforms – today’s students have made the best of it. And when restrictions were eased at the year’s mid-point, there was quite the fanfare as they got the chance to set up their total stations outside once again.

Back out into the winter sunlight

RMIT’s Thierry Demathieu recounts what the July 2020 return to the great outdoors looked like for surveying students in Victoria.

Advanced Diploma of Surveying students standing in front of the AFL Women’s – RMIT Women’s Football Academy Pavilion at the RMIT Bundoora Campus

“During Week 2 and Week 3 in July 2020, all RMIT surveying students returned to Bundoora Campus to undertake surveying field assessable activities. Thanks for Melissa Tinetti, Associate Dean – Industry Programs for leading the way with all her programs – it made it so much easier to know the right documentation to provide.

“As a result, we have now completed all Semester 1 assessments that had a field component. It’s been a pleasure to finally change the results from the interim result ‘RNF – Result Not Finalised’ to a final grade.

“Given the unusual circumstances 2020 has presented us with, some students decided that it wasn’t safe for them to attend. These students were from the country where no cases were detected at the time. They did not want to be the patient zero bringing the virus back from Melbourne. Of course, the RMIT view is that they were not going to be penalised, and all failed grades have been replaced by ‘Withdrawn’ grade.

“However, that didn’t stop surveying businesses in those areas helping those students gathering invaluable field experience to make up for lost field practice time. I would like to thank all those surveyors from Torquay, Bendigo, Corang, Albury NSW, Yarrawonga and Wangaratta, each of whom accommodated at least one student.

“For the students present at Bundoora, I took a photo as a memory of a very strange time where wearing a face mask is a mandatory thing to do.”

Surveying at a distance

With the return of stage four lockdown in Victoria not long after this assessment period, students are currently learning from home at the present.

While the Victorian community comes together to battle COVID-19 and ensure it is something that stays in 2020, these surveying students continue to work towards their graduation. Here is hoping that the next time they can trek out to the field with their lecturers comes sooner rather than later!

To find out more about surveying study in Victoria, or in other states, visit our Where to Study pages.