The Future of Quality University in Informatics (Panel contribution – revised)

1. The Future of Quality University in Informatics(Panel contribution – revised) Which type of Computer Scientist do we need for the future Jan van Leeuwen Utrecht University Informatics Europe 17-3-2009

3. Informatics was: Now is: • about computing, data processing and process control • about designing and creating processes and systems and their interactions with the world • centered around networks, embedded systems and intelligent (information/software) environments • critical in everything (science, business, society) • major intellectual discipline of this century • at the same time: major factor in economy, innovation and of ICT policies • used by everyone, everywhere • domain of many information and software companies and IT businesses (large and small) • challenging business models in all domains, privacy, security, ethics 17-3-2009

4. The Internet Packet communications Protocols (TCP/IP) Web/Mobile code Java High-level PL’s research Exchange languages Complexity Algorithm design Computational complexity Cryptography Data/knowledge analysis Data mining Semantic web Multimedia Data compression algorithms Computational geometry Game design Web science Search engines Social computing Natural language technology Computational systems Algorithmics Multi/many-core programming Parallel compilation E-science Virtual laboratories Diagnostic systems Life science informatics Cognitive systems Computational theory of mind Intelligent systems Sensor networks and robots Human-computer interaction Information systems Transaction systems Operations research Value chain informatisation E-business Information security Enterprise architecture E-services Adapted from R. Constable (2000) Core subjects of the Information Age 17-3-2009

5. What type of computer scientist do we need in the future.. The science / engineering paradox • complementarity: universities teach computer science, industry does software and system engineering. • universities teach the concepts of the present and the future, industry uses the concepts of the present. • universities teach knowledge and academic skills, industry needs skills in the technologies that it uses. • universities do frontier research, concrete and abstract; industry finds it difficult to apply it directly: they want concrete results and need engineering science, design and management. • universities work with students and develop concepts and prototypes, industry needs system developers and software engineers that use the proven technologies around. • universities teach life-long competences, industry only appreciates these later. • complementarity is challenged by current IT market (supply/demandparadoxof B. Fisher): supply (science) does not by itself generate demand (industry), but demand always brings about supply. • universities do not abandon the classical sciences, implying that CS departments cannot develop a fully complimentarized scope. Yet, as ICT becomes innovation engine # 1 in the economies, governments and industry want universities to play a larger role in industry-oriented ICT research. What does this tell us.. 17-3-2009

6. (Academic) computer scientists of the future should be.. • Acquainted with the frontiers of CS research. Versed in the long term philosophy of the field and its fundamental challenges as a science. • Designers rather than programmers. Engineering-oriented but also trained in the fundamental understandings of computational and `informational’ processes. • Well-trained in informatics as a multi-faceted, multidisciplinary field of applicable methods and technologies: science (mathematics, biology, ..) and business (economics, management science, ..) insights, design and development insights, software and engineering skills, and organizational and soft skills, have to be balanced. Make choices but involve at least three `dimensions’. • Team thinkers and collaborators rather than individual workers. • Having the advanced skills of today, and the ideas of tomorrow. • Be able to make/participate in decisions at project-, group-, or company level. • Going for excellence. Make choices that are sustainable by the whole department 17-3-2009

7. How to prepare (academic) computer scientists for their future role • Informatics is a science by itself. Do not let mathematics fill the basics. Expose the conceptual richness of Informatics itself, with the `eigen’ math of analysis, logic and reasoning that derive from the discipline. • Reconsider the curriculum and its pedagogy: reflect the `reality’ students face after graduation as well as the passions for the field. Vision is important: current students graduate two, three, …years from now. • (Potential) informatics students have varied interests and vocations that follow the changes in the discipline: design `threads’ to offer students their preferred view of the field and their path of interest through the program. Use the right focus terms that are sure to grab their interest (and that of women etc). • Don’t use what you learned as a student (and how) as a criterion: students `live’ with systems and software that didn’t even exist a few years ago and now view them as normal. They want to study what’s next! 17-3-2009

8. University Education in Informatics was: Should now be: • focussing on programming languages, algorithms, datastructures, database systems, program construction, logic (and math..), • focussing on algorithmic thinking, concepts in context, object/agent/ service/web-oriented programming, multimedia, embedded systems, distributed intelligence, cognition, information system architectures • Using the latest software technologies, unleashing creativity • embedded in multidisciplinary contexts (game design, bio-informatics, web design, technology management, etc.) and experiential learning • more application- than core theory-oriented • constantly adapting to progress in ICT • using unlimited digital information, changing the face of scholarship in its own and many fields • keeping to the demand in all branches of science, business, industry, .. • `partially’ aimed at research in cores area of CS • competing in domain-oriented MSc and PhD programs 17-3-2009

9. Cf. Applied Informatics Göttingen