Innovative teaching

The Finnish Higher Education Council re-elected the department as a national centre of excellence in higher education, this time for the years 2010-2012. The status of centre of excellence is a significant achievement. It was only conferred on 10 units in Finland this time, and the department was one of two units that were selected for their second period.

The centre of excellence status is the result of long-term, consistent development of teaching and learning, such measures as creating learning-goal matrices for courses in connection with the new syllabus, removing some bottlenecks in degree progress, and supporting student-centred activities - both the multifaceted activities of the student union TKO-äly to support learning and the course organised by the new Lambda society - were taken during the past year.

The new sub-programme structure and degree requirements of the department were designed during the winter and spring, and came into force from the beginning of autumn 2008. There are now three sub-programmes at the department: algorithms and machine learning, distributed systems and data communications, and software systems. Now the teaching at the department is grouped more logically than before, and the new sub-programmes correlate more clearly with the focuses of research at the department. One of the principles while renewing the degree was, indeed, to further base the MSc-level teaching on the strengths in research at the department. The Department of Computer Science also has two international Master's programmes, in bioinformatics (MBI) and information and communications technology (CBU-ICT).

Here are some good details from the report(whole report can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of the page):

 

Teaching

The teaching/educational programme of the department clearly rests on a very solid pedagogical basis. -- Research and teaching are very well integrated and support each other. 

 

Curriculum and course design

The development and the design of the curriculum is well-structured. -- The staff are very committed. The bachelor’s level curriculum has a strong profile as well as the three lines of master’s programmes provided by the department. The students participate in the course design. -- Project studies facilitate exposure to real life situations. -- The balance between lectures, group work and project works is good.

 

Development of teaching

The discipline is in a state of continuous development and change, and the department has acted systematically in development work. The staff are highly committed to continuous development work.

 

Studing and students

The atmosphere of the unit is very supportive and motivating. Students and staff cooperate closely both formally and informally.-- The department seems to be highly attractive at the international level and has a high number of international graduate and postgraduate students.

 

Orientoivissa opinnoissa tehdään pelin henki selväksi

 


Laitoksen opetuksen kehittämisessä vahvasti vaikuttaneelle lehtori Heikki Lokille myönnettiin 26.3.2009 Eino Kaila –palkinto ansiokkaasta toiminnasta yliopisto-opettajana.

Year 2007 a large survey of computer science research was made. This survey also noted our department high quality students:

The Department attracts outstanding students and has excellent international network of collaborations and exchange visits.2

 

 

[1] The Finnish Higher Education Council: Centres of Excellence in Finnish University Education 2010–2012 (report 03:2009), p. 68-69.

[2] Academy of Finland: Computer Science Research in Finland 2000–2006: International Evaluation (Publication of the Academy of Finland 8/07), s. 43-44.

Created date

05.02.2010 - 11:03

International Master’s programmes a welcome challenge

The Department of Computer Science can face a new era next autumn, as two out of three specialisation programmes at the Master’s level are planning to adopt English as their teaching language. In future, the courses of Algorithms and machine learning as well as Distributed systems are considered to be given in English, while Software systems continues in Finnish.

Official opening of Software Factory on March 4th, 2010 at 13-17

The Software Factory is a strategic investment of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki into a new infrastructure supporting software engineering research, education and entrepreneurship.

From competition to collaboration

katherineicay.jpg

Katherine Icay, Honours Bachelor of actuarial science at the University of Toronto, decided to make a career turn after a few years in an insurance company. Although fascinated by the theoretical foundations of her study field, she ultimately found the business environment unsuitable for her character.

Department receives university welfare award

The University of Helsinki has granted the Department of Computer Science the university’s safety and welfare award 2009. According to the award diploma, the department staff has collaborated to improve the quality, safety, and welfare of its working environment with determination and good results.

The 5,000-euro award has been granted on the proposition of the safety and welfare commission.