Profile of the programme

At the Bachelor level the Computer Science program aims to provide students with a solid foundation in the field of computer science and prepare them to become effective computer professionals. The program is based on both theory and practice with emphasis given to the concepts and techniques necessary for the design and development of advanced computer systems.  Upon graduation the student is ready for an entry level position in industry and for graduate studies.

The program has been designed around a core of computer technology, problem solving, systematic program development and modern approaches to systems analysis and design with the theoretical and practical knowledge and skills, needed to produce designers of the complex software systems that our society requires.

The main aims of the program are:

• Provide students with advanced theoretical and practical computer science knowledge and skills, enabling them to work for the IT environment of the commercial, industrial and governmental sectors.
• Enable students to develop their personal and professional prospects, keeping in pace with the rapid progress of the technology in computer science.
• Prepare the students to pursue further postgraduate education and research.
• Provide a strong sense of social commitment, global vision and independent self-learning ability.

The main objectives of the program are:

• To enhance students’ critical thinking and to develop their basic analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• To introduce the field of computer science, and principles of computers, computation and programming.
• To acquaint students with the major commercial applications of computing and the computing techniques pertinent to them.
• To introduce students to programming concepts and methodologies for program design, development, testing and documentation.
• To introduce techniques for systematic problem analysis, program specification, design, coding, testing, debugging and documentation of programs.
• To acquaint students with current popular programming languages and operating systems.
• To introduce computer software engineering, database systems, networking, Computer security and Internet.
• To examine and evaluate current information systems, and apply modern computer techniques in creating new and improved business information systems.
• To integrate theoretical models with computing practice so that the latter’s role in assessing the effectiveness of specification, validation, and execution methods can be exploited.
• To understand the models of computation and means of their implementation in both hardware and software.
• To acquaint students with new developments in the field of Computer Science, such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, the Internet of Things (IoT).

The program includes four thematic areas which can be approached via the program’s elective courses.  More specifically, the following thematic areas are available:

1. 1. Cybersecurity and Privacy;
   2. Internet of Things;
   3. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning;
   4. Virtual Reality and Game Development.

Students following a specific thematic area, will need to take a minimum of three courses from the respective area.

Occupational Profiles of Graduates with Examples

Recent studies and forecasts on employability are consistent to those published in previous years and foresee a high demand of skilled digital technology experts and ICT professionals.  We site below some highlights of related published forecasts.

• The European Commission’s Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs (a multi-stakeholder partnership) has been assembled “to tackle the lack of digital skills in Europe and the thousands of unfilled ICT-related vacancies across all industry sectors”. Although millions of Europeans are currently without a job, companies struggle to find skilled digital technology experts. It is estimated that there will be 6 million unfilled vacancies for ICT professionals by 2030 [1]. As Richard Bruton, the Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation in Ireland, stated in his speech at the conference “Filling the gaps: e-Skills & Education for Digital Jobs Conference”: “Even during the recession, employment increased in the ICT sector and is forecast to continue to increase over the coming years due to the worldwide exponential growth in demand for next generation internet, mobile ICT, social networking and information security technologies.” [2].
• At the same time, in the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, estimates that “employment of computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 11 percent from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations. These occupations are expected to add about 531,200 new jobs [3]. Moreover, “employment of information security analysts is projected to grow 32% percent from 2018 to 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations. Demand for information security analysts is expected to be very high, as these analysts will be needed to create innovative solutions to prevent hackers from stealing critical information or causing problems for computer networks.” [4].

Local market employability is also reinforced by the registration of the CS program graduates with the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK) which furnishes them with a license to practice the CS profession.

References:

• [1] EURES, European Commission, The future of work: ICT professionals, Sept. 2020 https://ec.europa.eu/eures/public/news/-/asset_publisher/L2ZVYxNxK11W/content/the-future-of-work-ict-professionals?inheritRedirect=false
• [2]Filling the Gaps: e-SKILLS AND EDUCATION FOR DIGITAL JOBS, Conference report, European Commission, 2013, industriall-europe.eu/Sectors/ICT/2013/GCReport-final.pdf (last access November 9, 2019).
• [3] “Occupational Outlook Handbook”, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/home.htm, Sept. 2020
• [4]Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2019 Edition, Information Security Analysts, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/information-security-analysts.htm (last access November 15, 2019).

Access to Further Studies

Graduates of the programme can be accepted into Second Cycle degrees (Master’s Degree)