Fully-equipped computer rooms and research labs, as well as cutting-edge multimedia equipment await students at the Faculty of Informatics of UD, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. The academic programmes were revised last year, apparently successfully.
The Faculty of Informatics at UD is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The university purchased its first computer in 1967 in order to provide programmes in information technology. The project was initiated by professor Béla Gyires. In the academic year 1972/73 the education of IT professionals was launched at the Department of Software Design and Mathematics. The IT Institute was established decades later, in April 2003, as an offspring of the Faculty of Science. In 2004 the Faculty of Informatics was launched.
– During the past 15 years the academic programmes of the faculty have changed a lot – in the academic year 2017/2018 completely new programmes were offered to students. The current regulations allow a high level of flexibility, which is highly important, considering that this is a dynamic sector, and education needs to quickly adapt to the changing technological demands. Our new programmes have been developed in this spirit and are popular with students and companies as well. The number of applicants to the IT departments has grown, and the English-language courses are increasingly popular. Today over 400 foreign students study at the faculty, accounting for more than one fifth of the total number. Besides, companies are willing to take part in the education of their future employees. The demand for cooperative programmes has also increased. These are practice-oriented courses where students learn about new technologies and work on real-life problems with the help of IT professionals – explained dean Tamás Mihálydeák.
The dean added that the number of girls interested in IT is continuously increasing, which may have to do with the high number of events organised by the university, such as the Professional Days twice a year and the Girls’ Day once a year where hundreds of high school students can learn about career opportunities in the IT sector. Last year the ADA conference series was launched in order to promote IT jobs and to facilitate communication among women working in the sector.
– The objective of these events is to fight the wrong ideas students and parents have got about IT professionals. Information technology is a multifaceted area which is present in practically all sectors from finance and economy to healthcare and manufacturing. This is why it is important that girls learn about career opportunities in this field – pointed out Tamás Mihálydeák.
Following the revision of academic programmes, the university started to improve infrastructure. By 2019 UD purchased about 70 computers, refurbished five computer rooms, and developed the equipment in research labs, where young researchers work on problems in areas such as image processing, data mining, BigData, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and smart solutions.
This year, too, besides the three basic IT academic programmes (program design, computer design engineering, business informatics), the Faculty of Informatics at UD offers courses in information technology teaching and library and information science as well.
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