What makes an instructor decide to bring FME into the classroom?
Every course is different. Some focus on GIS, others on geomatics, engineering, environmental management, or spatial information management. Every instructor has their own teaching style, and every class has different learning objectives.
We recently spoke with seven instructors who teach with FME through the FME Grant Program. Each shared a different story about why they introduced FME, how they use it in their courses, and what they have seen from their students.
Looking beyond software
José Luis García Balboa, who teaches Map Production at the Universidad de Jaén, doesn’t begin by teaching software features. Instead, he uses FME to help students understand how geographic information is collected, transformed, integrated, validated, and delivered. As he says: “I don’t teach FME. I teach what FME makes possible.”
His students move from thinking about individual GIS operations to understanding the complete process behind managing geographic information. He has found that a short introduction is often enough for students to begin building their own projects.
At the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Miguel Ángel Manso Callejo introduces students to several technologies for data transformation and integration before asking them to choose the one that best fits their own project. Many ultimately select FME, but only after comparing different approaches and deciding which tool best solves the problem in front of them.
Giorgi Kapanadze, Associate Professor at Business and Technology University in Georgia, has students build a GIS workflow manually before recreating it in FME. He says this shift to automation changes their thinking from what an analysis produces to how the process can scale. That’s when they start thinking in ETL terms.
Bringing professional workflows into the classroom
For Eloina Coll Aliaga at the Universitat Politècnica de València, introducing FME helped close the gap between theory and practice.
Students work with realistic data integration challenges, combine information from multiple sources, automate repetitive tasks, and build workflows similar to those used in professional environments.
Chris Wright at the British Columbia Institute of Technology brings FME into courses such as Fundamentals of GIS and Geospatial Systems Management because it reflects tools and workflows students are likely to encounter after graduation. Working with both FME Form and FME Flow gives students experience with data processing, workflow automation, and managing information across different systems.
Preparing students for future careers
For Kathleen Coupland, who teaches in the Master of Geomatics for Environmental Management program at the University of British Columbia, the decision to introduce FME started with something practical.
She noticed that many municipal job postings were specifically asking for FME experience. That observation led the program to introduce an annual FME workshop so students could graduate with experience using a platform they were likely to encounter in the workplace.
Fredrik Lindberg, Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Gothenburg, had a similar realization, though he arrived at it from the other direction. After spending time outside academia, he saw how extensively FME was being used in professional work around Gothenburg. When he returned, he decided to introduce it to students studying Geography and Urban GIS.
What students say afterward
For Fredrik, the value of that decision becomes clearest when former students come back: “My students really appreciate the introduction to FME. They come back and tell us stories about how they benefit from knowing about this software and how to use it in their everyday work.”
For Giorgi, it shows up as an edge in the job market: “Integrating FME into our GIS curriculum allows students to see beyond standard map-making and understand the power of automated spatial data pipelines.”
Other instructors have seen similar results. Eloina has had students mention their FME experience during internships and job interviews. José Luis has heard from former students who later thanked him for introducing FME during their studies.
Across these conversations, one idea kept coming up. FME wasn’t introduced to replace the fundamentals of GIS, engineering, or environmental science. It became another way to help students work with real data, understand workflows, and connect classroom concepts with professional practice.
Learn more
The FME Grant Program gives eligible educational institutions, instructors, students, and non-profit organizations free access to FME. The goal is to make it easier to bring data integration and automation into classrooms, research projects, and community initiatives.
If you’re interested in teaching with FME, learn more about the program here.
