Industrial Steering Group Meeting Industrial Steering Group 280808

Industrial Steering Group Meeting Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Agenda 10. 00 Welcome and coffee 10. 15 Introduction & Overview of Teaching & Research – Andrew Ireland 10. 30 MEng Industrial Placement Scheme – Phil Trinder 10. 45 A Snap Shot of New Teaching and Outreach Projects – Judy Robertson 11. 05 Development & Alumni – Liz Dean 11. 15 Plenary Discussions 12. 00 Poster Session (EMB 2. 44) 12. 45 Lunch (EMB 1. 01) Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Undergraduate Programme BSc Computer Science broad foundation, with strong emphasis on theory and practice BSc Information Systems unique blend of computer science, management and socio-technical systems MEng Software Engineering advanced software engineer, with additional management skills Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Postgraduate Programme Artificial Intelligence Bioinformatics Creative Software Systems Distributed & Multimedia Information Systems Intelligent Web Technology Mobile & Handheld Applications Software Engineering Computer Systems Management Information Technology Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Research Groups Biomedical Informatics Systems Engineering Database, Information & KBS Dependable Systems Group (DSG) Intelligent Systems ULTRA Vision, Interactive Systems & Graphical Environments (VIS&GE) Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Interaction with Industry Small scale student projects, e. g. Access application for Edinburgh Competition festival Association Spinouts, e. g. Totallytextures Ltd: capturing, managing, and visualising surface textures Applied Research, e. g. Praxis High Integrity Systems Ltd, Qineti. Q Guest lectures MEng Industrial Placement Scheme Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Prizes, Scholarships & Labs Abelon - Best Poster Prize for Most Innovative Project Real Time Engineering - Best MEng Project Graham Technology - Best Student Prize Systems Consultants Prize – Best Student Final Year CS Cooper-Walker Engineering Prize – Outstanding Project Work CS Don Godfrey Prize – Best Student Final Year IS ICL Prize – Best Student First Year CS Atos Origin Prize – Third Year Group Project CS & IS Scott Logic Prize – Top Five Students Third Year CS MEng Software Engineering Undergraduate Leadership Scholarship Agilent Computing Lab (EMB 2. 50) Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Industrial Placements Needed! MEng in Software Engineering The Students: An elite international group of our very best software engineers. Previously interviewed and vetted by a panel of industrialists. Already completed an industrially applied group project. Completing the 4 th year of a 5 year MEng degree in Summer `08. “Our MEng placement students were so good we snapped them up when they graduated; and then went back for more!” – Tom Johnston, Programme Manager. The Placements: “Heriot-Watt provided us with access to high quality MEng students and we have been really pleased with the outcome and value for money provided …. It is definitely a resource we will use again” – Sue Balatoni, Helixion Ltd. Challenging Software Engineering or ICT-related Work. Full-time and Paid (12 -20 weeks from Mid May to Late October 2008). Opportunities to Dovetail with Final Year Dissertation Project. Lightweight University Assessment & Flexible Arrangements. If you are interested in providing a mutually beneficial placement, or require further information, please contact: Dr Phil Trinder (0131 451 3435, trinder@macs. hw. ac. uk, www. macs. hw. ac. uk/~trinder/) Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

A snapshot of new projects in Computer Science Teaching Recruitment Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Teaching Innovation Our graduates need to be: problem solvers, team workers, innovative, creative, self critical, professional, agile and motivated To match our new degree courses, we’re innovating in our teaching We’re moving away towards more interactive classes and are experimenting with new teaching technology We’re also redesigning some of our classrooms to match We want learning spaces where students feel comfortable, inspired, interested, playful, adventurous, studious… Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Windows onto Learning We want to celebrate and showcase learning by creating “windows” round the department: Screen savers TVs in student and staff common rooms Mobiles Windows show constantly changing snapshots of what students are working on Students will be involved in writing software to drive the displays, and looking after content These ideas need some investment – but also new ways of thinking about learning http: //judyrobertson. typepad. com/judy_robertson/technology_in_teaching/index. html Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Schools outreach Universities worldwide are finding it hard to recruit people to computing degrees Demographic trends are against us There is still a perception that “there are no jobs in computing” Programming is squeezed out of Higher computing The number of computing graduates has dropped by a third in the last four years, while demand for computing graduates has doubled (source: Computing Scotland). So we’re doing a lot more schools outreach to get kids interested in computing Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

IT 4 U 2008: runaway success Organised by Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh and Napier 250 3 rd year secondary school pupils attended Theme of “Computing Careers” Support from local and global computing companies This year Heriot-Watt are hosting it! Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08

Plenary Discussion What kind of interaction model fits with your organization? What are the drivers associated with such interaction for your organization? What are the hurdles, i. e. time, funding etc? How can we better facilitate student recruitment? Does the MEng Placement scheme appeal to you? Do you see gaps in your R&D which HW might be able to help with? Would you like to share your expertise via a guest lecture, or via some other forum? Industrial Steering Group 28/08/08