inf.ed.ac.uk

1. www.inf.ed.ac.uk INSIDE INFORMATION Welcome to the School of Informatics Student Visiting Day Alex Simpson

2. What Makes Our Curriculum Special? • Informatics@Edinburgh combines the traditional fields of computer science, software engineering, artificial intelligence and cognitive science - united by fundamental concepts of computation, communication and information. • We are the largest and best rated computer science department in the UK. • We offer a unique range of degrees, with flexibility to move between them. • We also offer an unparalleled range of specialist course options.

3. What Makes Our Curriculum Special? • Our research standing means: • You will be taught by world leaders • The course content is up-to-date • You may have the opportunity to contribute to developments in the field • What our students say: • You often find yourself studying things that have been invented by the person lecturing it. If you do a Google search you more often than not pull up an Edinburgh page.

4. RAE 2008 Results

5. Teaching Quality • Degrees accredited by the British Computer Society (last visit 2009)‏ • “Students were highly satisfied with their programmes and appreciated the accessibility of all staff and the excellent resources” • “The panel was impressed by the general enthusiasm of the school” • 2010 – voted Best Department in Edinburgh in Students' Association teaching award scheme. Nominated again in 2012/2013.and 2013/14

6. Degrees In 4 Main Areas • Four-year degree programmes in: • Computer Science • Software Engineering • Artificial Intelligence • Cognitive Science • Combined degrees with: • Mathematics • Physics • Management • Electronics… • Five-year integrated Master in Informatics

7. Degree Structure • 4-year honours degrees • 5-year Masters in Informatics • 5-year MEng degrees • It is possible to graduate after 3 years with an Ordinary degree • Second-year entry is also possible, subject to higher entry requirements

8. Degree Structure • Each year, you will take courses totalling 120 credits, over two semesters • In the first two years, you will study a mixture of core, optional and ‘outside’ subjects • In the last two years you will focus on your chosen degree subject, with a wide choice of options

9. The First Year You will be required to take a fixed number courses in each semester You are encouraged to study an ‘outside’ subject from the hundreds on offer e.g. archaeology, criminology, music, etc.

10. Informatics 1 • Functional Programming: describing pure computation • Computation & Logic: thinking about thinking about computing • Object-oriented Programming: Working with Java • Data & Analysis: structured, semi-structured and unstructured data – how does Amazon know your mind?

11. The Second Year As in the first year, you take a choice of courses each semester For many degrees, you will still have the option of following an ‘outside’ course

12. Informatics 2 • Processing Formal and Natural Languages - how does a computer make sense of Java? of English? • Algorithms, Data Structures and Learning - problem solving strategies • Computer Systems – what lies beneath? • Software Engineering – how do professionals work to build large programs • Reasoning and Agents - reacting to real-world uncertainty - what should the robot do next?

13. The Third Year Your studies will focus on the discipline forming your degree, with more depth and a wider choice of subjects Combined degrees will balance choice across each subject area

14. Examples of Courses Algorithms and Data Structures Computer Architecture Computer Security Database Systems Foundations of Natural Language Processing Introduction to Vision and Robotics Software Engineering with Objects and Components

15. Third Year Project Work • Individual Large Practical: recent examples include Peer-To-Peer File Sharing, Android voting app, biological simulation • System Design Project: a team project, recent examples include Facial Recognition Door Entry System, Robot Football, Mars-Lander, Web Controlled Robotic Shopper

16. The Fourth Year You will choose specialist modules that help complement and develop your third year choice Greater emphasis on individual project work You will write a dissertation on your project.

17. Examples of Courses • Animation and Visualisation • Computational Complexity • Human-Computer Interaction • Automated Reasoning • Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition • Machine Translation • Parallel Programming Languages and Systems • Querying and Storing XML

18. Examples of Recent 4th Year Projects • Evolutionary algorithms for a cricket robot • Detection of emotion in email text • Artificial fog tornado (pictured) • Match Fixing for Amateurs • Greedy algorithms for graph colouring • Cutting-edge web: building web 2.0 applications in Links • Scheduling Rural Dial-a-Bus Services • 3D model reconstruction from multiple views • A web-based simulator for viral infection

19. Student Successes • 4 students (out of 15) selected to take part in The Silicon Valley Internship Programme (SVIP) which offers newly graduating Software Engineering Students from the UK the unique experience of working with hot start-ups in Silicon Valley through a one-year internship. • 9 out of the last 14 Young Software Engineer of the Year Awards have gone to our students. • 2 of our female undergraduate students won prizes at the 2013 British Computing Society Women Lovelace Colloquium. A conference aimed at women in technology. • Many of our students have successfully interned in major companies including Skyscanner, Google and Bloomberg following highly competitive selection processes.

20. Study Support • Personal Tutor • Tutors and demonstrators • InfBASE drop-in helpdesk • Informatics Teaching Organisation • All materials available on the internet What our students say: “… access to facilities is easy and available 24 hours a day. And of course the pubs are open till 1am, if you do happen to get your work done in time.”

21. Summary • Studying Informatics at Edinburgh will be challenging and rewarding • I hope you will choose to study with us and we look forward to welcoming you as freshers • If you have any further questions, ask us now or contact us via our website: www.inf.ed.ac.uk