Transcript cjp all visit talk - Aberystwyth University Users Site

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
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Common themes to degrees
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Degree schemes offered:
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Common first year of study, and much of second year
Emphasis on adaptable, vocationally oriented software
engineering education
Computer Science
Software Engineering
Internet Computing
Business Information Technology
Degree ‘flavours’ linked to our research interests
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Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence
Mobile and wearable computing
AI and Robotics
Vision, graphics and visualization
Equipment
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Computers
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Large robotics laboratory
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Cluster of Sun V880s
Sun-donated workstation rooms
Several PC-based Beowulf clusters
Assembly robots
Mobile robots
Aerobots
VICON vision system
Building new robot scientist laboratory
University is building new Visualisation Centre
Plan for new Visualisation Centre
Perspectives
Aims of our courses
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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
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Top marks in QAA assessment in 2002
Degrees accredited by British Computer Society
Computer Science :
The Alternative View
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Assumptions
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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?
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You do!
Your interests and abilities
Your personality, your interpersonal skills,
communication skills, sense of humour
We can work on these together
Key Events in Our Degrees
 A programme
of residential, skilldevelopment 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
First year weekend
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Interpersonal Skills
 Team Building
 Personal Challenge
Addressing Employability
Second year weekend
 Interview technique sessions
 Mock interviews by top employers
 Problem solving sessions to enhance
teamwork
Second Year Group Project
 Groups
of 8 to 10
 Requirements for an application are
provided
 Emphasis on producing quality software
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Not just working, but maintainable, reliable,
usable
 Acceptance
tests at end of project
 Example projects: Grobbits, JoggleCube
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
Example Final Year Projects
 Graphic
system for teaching Brownian
motion
 Intelligent FAQS systems
 Central database talking to Palm devices or
mobile phones
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Portable project management
Mobile fitness tracker
Mobile allergy database
 Java-based
phone game - Grobbits
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
Typical employers of our
undergraduates
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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
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
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
Thank you for listening
 Questions?