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Computer Science at University of Wales Aberystwyth

Computer Science at University of Wales Aberystwyth. Professor Chris Price Head of Department. Structure of Department. 25 full-time lecturing staff 35 support and research staff 450 undergraduates and MSc students 25 PhD students. Undergraduate Courses. Common themes to degrees

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Computer Science at University of Wales Aberystwyth

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  1. Computer Science at University of Wales Aberystwyth Professor Chris Price Head of Department

  2. Structure of Department • 25 full-time lecturing staff • 35 support and research staff • 450 undergraduates and MSc students • 25 PhD students

  3. Undergraduate Courses • Common themes to degrees • Common first year of study, and much of second year • Emphasis on adaptable, vocationally oriented software engineering education • Degree schemes offered: • Computer Science • Software Engineering • Internet Computing • Business Information Technology • Degree ‘flavours’ linked to our research interests • Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence • Mobile and wearable computing • AI and Robotics • Vision, graphics and visualization

  4. Equipment • Computers • Cluster of Sun V880s • Sun-donated workstation rooms • Several PC-based Beowulf clusters • Large robotics laboratory • Assembly robots • Mobile robots • Aerobots • VICON vision system • Building new robot scientist laboratory • University is building new Visualisation Centre

  5. Plan for new Visualisation Centre Perspectives

  6. Aims of our courses • The main aim of our undergraduate single honours degree courses is to produce good quality computer scientists with a strong software engineering bias. • We seek to produce graduates who have a broad knowledge of Computing, a wide skills base, good intellectual skills and strengthened interpersonal skills. • We want our graduates to have the intellectual basis and skills to adapt to the changes of a rapidly moving industry, so that their skills will still be relevant in 10 years time. • Marks of success • Top marks in QAA assessment in 2002 • Degrees accredited by British Computer Society

  7. Computer Science : The Alternative View • Assumptions • Academic Progress is all important. • Details of courses, modules & content are on the web. You’ve heard it all before. • You graduate with a good degree! • What gets you the job you want over the next person? • You do! • Your interests and abilities • Your personality, your interpersonal skills, communication skills, sense of humour • We can work on these together

  8. Key Events in Our Degrees • A programme of residential, skill-development weekends in the first two years • A realistic industrial computing experience in the second year • The opportunity to explore YOUR computing interests in the final year

  9. First year weekend • Interpersonal Skills • Team Building • Personal Challenge

  10. Addressing Employability Second year weekend • Interview technique sessions • Mock interviews by top employers • Problem solving sessions to enhance teamwork

  11. Second Year Group Project • Groups of 8 to 10 • Requirements for an application are provided • Emphasis on producing quality software • Not just working, but maintainable, reliable, usable • Acceptance tests at end of project • Example projects: Grobbits, JoggleCube

  12. Final Year Individual Project • You choose a project that you are interested in • Staff advise on suitability, and supervisor is assigned • Meet regularly, but you do the technical work, and produce software • Allows you to explore your interests and get experience matching jobs you want

  13. Example Final Year Projects • Graphic system for teaching Brownian motion • Intelligent FAQS systems • Central database talking to Palm devices or mobile phones • Portable project management • Mobile fitness tracker • Mobile allergy database • Java-based phone game - Grobbits

  14. Work of our undergraduates (2 years after graduation) • 78 % - Technical jobs. Jobs with titles like “Web developer” or “Software engineer”. Spending most of their time building systems. • 8% - Further education. Gone on to pursue a further course (MSc, PhD). • 14% Computing-related. In all cases, the job still had a technical element, e.g. quality assurance or teaching

  15. Typical employers of our undergraduates • Computer Engineer, Sony • Business Analyst, Hitachi Europe • Analyst Programmer, HSBC • Web Developer, Legal & General Insurance • Systems Programmer, Open World Internet • Systems Engineer, Control Techniques • Support Analyst, UBS Warburg • Computer Programmer, Logica • Systems Analyst, Powys County Council

  16. Top 10 things about our undergrad degrees (10 to 6) 10. Wide selection of computing degrees that you can move freely between. 9. Staff with significant experience of the computer industry, able to pass that experience on to students. 8. Over £4 million spent on high-powered equipment over the last three years, and more to come. 7. Enthusiastic staff willing to help you with your problems 6. Aber is a cheap place to be an undergrad

  17. Top 10 things about our undergrad degrees (5 to 1) 5. Aber is a fun, safe place to be an undergrad 4. Our practically-oriented degrees make you apply what you learn 3. Our students are able to be effective immediately with the skills learned here 2. Our students get good, highly paid jobs in industry 1. We are rated number one in Wales by students for teaching

  18. Thank you for listening • Questions?

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