University of Helsinki (www.helsinki.fi) Computer Science (160 cu.)

Programme established: 1967 , Number of students: 1 793, Number of
teaching staff: 42, Teaching staff/Student ratio: 1:43, Proportion of
visiting lecturers: 5 %, Acceptance rate: 70 %, Drop-out rate: 30 %,
Median time for graduation: 6,8 yrs, Average age of graduates: 28,9 yrs,
Percentage of female students: 20 %, Industry advisory body: through
personal contacts, Number of industry partners 47, Funding from corporate
services 10 %, Funding for R&D services 24 %.

The University of Helsinki is the oldest and most multidisciplinary
university in Finland. It was founded first in Turku in 1640 and then
transferred to Helsinki in 1828. A separate faculty for sciences was
established in 1852. The Department of Computer Science was founded in
1967 when the first full professorship in computer science was
established.

Today the department has 47 teaching positions, consisting of 12
professors, 13 lecturers, 15 assistants and 7 teachers. The number of
students is 1 793. The intake of new students was 270 in 1998 and 310 in
1999. The department is also responsible for providing Computer Science
courses for all students at the University.

>The department is made up of five areas of specialisation: Algorithms,
>Intelligent systems, Software engineering, Information systems and
>Distributed systems and data communication. The last two specialisation
>areas have been introduced since 1998.

>Opettajalinja ja sovelluslinja puuttuvat.

>Korjausehdotus:

The degree programme in Computer Science is divided into three
subprogrammes: Computer Science, Applied Computer Science, and Teacher in
Computer Science. Computer Science, which is the area largest in volume
and which focuses both on practical and theoretical studies, is further
divided into five specialisation areas:  Algorithms, Intelligent systems,
Software engineering, Information systems and Distributed systems and
data communication. The last two specialisation areas have been
introduced since 1998.


Focus on research and education

The aim of the programme is twofold. Firstly, the programme strives to
provide a modern and all-round advanced level education of computer
experts for the needs of the industry sector. Secondly, the department
seeks to be among the top research institutes of computer science within
its own selected research areas (as stated above). 

Old and new systems

There have been some recent changes in the department management. The
Head of the department changed in 1998. This has initiated changes in the
department. Old systems and traditions still continue although new units
and roles have been established. The roles of the different
specialisation area heads seem to be a little unclear at present. This
creates some areas of activity where nobody seems to be taking
responsibility e.g. student counselling or additional administrative
work. Formally, executive powers rests with the head of the department.
However, during the interviews it was noticed, that in practice many
decisions were still made informally according to the old management
structure within each of the laboratories. A term used often was "but in
practice..." The faculty staff seemed to be happy with this situation,
but some students felt it was difficult to cope with. 

The department seems to be made out of individual, independent units (of
expertise) rather than being a single coherent system. New courses are
designed by the different laboratories, and then pooled together. The
evaluation team learned that the new management had not yet formed a
clear and communicable vision for more than one or two years ahead. It is
recommended that the department head takes more responsibility for the
overall co-ordination of department's work. 

Also information flows need to be examined more closely. Some students
described the information flows in the department as "hunting information
by rumours". This issue needs to be addressed more clearly at the
department. It was learned that the Internet was used actively. However
it should be noted that it is not a suitable channel to be used as the
only means of communication if information is not updated regularly.

Recent changes in the programme

The degree programme has undergone major changes since 1998. Two new
areas of specialisation have been added to the programme. Furthermore
many courses have been split into smaller components. Our discussions
with the students suggested that the split courses were liked by the
students, especially those working whilst studying.  It should be noted,
however that by doing this monitoring and improving the programme as a
whole gets more difficult and fragmented.

Academic students

The evaluation team recommends that the department pays greater attention
to the fact that in the five year period 1994 - 1999 only 11 PhD degrees
were completed. This can easily lead to a lack of post-doctoral young
faculty and in the long run could lead to the department having
difficulties in finding qualified staff.

The intake of new students has grown rapidly during. The basic admission
limit has been 180 new students per year. In 1998 the programme accepted
already 270 and in 1999 310 new students. The rapid increase in student
intake in the past three years has created several challenges for the
department. A large fraction of the students drop out of the programme
each year. The management does not seem to be too concerned about the
fact, but explain that the reason for this state is, that the industry
demand for computer science students is very high. Another reason might
be the fact that a lot of students decide to change their majors later on
and no longer continue Computer Science as a major. Also these students
are reported as drop outs.

The students interviewed took their studies seriously; they also seemed
to highly value their so-called 'academic freedom'. Students were not
very goal-oriented as far as completing their studies was concerned and
seemed to treat the studies as one part-time occupation among others.
Some of the students really enjoyed the academic freedom, which enables
them to study different subjects freely within the University of Helsinki
framework. This, combined with the lack of attention paid by the staff to
student progression, may be one reason for prolonged studies.

>The University of Helsinki has been successful in attracting female
>students. The average proportion of female students in other
>institutions in the field has remained close to 10 % whilst at HU the
>figure is 20 %. However the department is not as successful when
>measured on female students who go on to complete their studies and
>graduate.

>Naisten osuus valmistuneista ei ole pienempi kuin naisten osuus
>kaikista opiskelijoista. Vuonna 1998 valmistuneista 27% oli naisia,
>vuonna 1999 24%. (Ongelma on, että naiset keskeyttävät samassa määrässä
>kuin miehet.)

>Korjausehdotus: Jätetään viimeinen lause pois?

The University of Helsinki has been successful in attracting female
students. The average proportion of female students in other institutions
in the field has remained close to 10 % whilst at HU the figure is 20 %.


Specialised knowledge

The university has been very successful in identifying and developing
specialisation (niche) areas to satisfy the needs of selected computing
industries. The industry representatives considered the programme to be
highly theoretical. They felt that less emphasis was paid to promoting
practical knowledge.

In general the quality of teaching viewed as good and is based mostly on
professors' core competence. Both professors and students seemed to be
satisfied with the contents of the programme. However, some courses were
based on rather traditional lecturing with little interaction. In
particular, some basic courses were arranged for huge groups with 300 -
600 students.

Professors' knowledge was recognised and valued by the industry
representatives in general. There is a plan to develop teaching methods
in a direction that involves more student activity. So far the
development of teaching has been left to individual teachers. The staff
is well aware of the increasing number of new students and the pressure
it will cause to teaching in the near future.

It was noticed that the professors had only limited co-operation with
each other with teaching issues. According to the students this can cause
some overlapping of course content. There is a need for more
co-ordination. 

Lack of feedback

Students were asked to evaluate their course twice per semester. The
professors seemed not to be too concerned about the lack of student
interest in giving feedback. The lack of criticism or even interest among
students should be alarming. 

Some of the lecturers collected feedback from the curriculum development
by facilitating discussions in the news groups. The discussions were
described to be lame. 

Limited industry links

>The department has only limited co-operation with the industry. Almost
>all thesis work are prepared according to the students' own interest.
>Department has some grants available for those students wishing to focus
>on basic research, instead of focusing on applied research, which is
>more readily funded by industry. The evaluation team felt that the
>research and teaching at the Helsinki University is more "academic" in
>that sense that it is rather independent from the influence of industry
>and commerce. Most visible industry co-operation is limited to a dual
>professorship, one person working half time at the department and the
>other half in the industry. 

>Opinnäytteitä tehtiin joko teollisuuden tai jonkun muun >laitoksen
>"toimeksiannosta" seuraavasti: pro graduja 42%, ohjelmistotuotanotöitä
>50%.

>Tutkimusprojekteilla on hyvät yhteydet teollisuuteen. Meillä oli vuonna
>1998 47 yritystä mukana *rahoittamassa* tutkimusta. Toisaalta "häviämme"
>kyllä TKK:lle.

>Korjaus?


The industry representatives valued the academic skills of the students.
After all, as the department slogan says, "Linux was invented here".

Also a lot of expectations are placed on the establishment of a new
research institute; Helsinki Institute of Information Technology (HIIT).
This is a joint venture between the University of Helsinki and Helsinki
University of Technology. Its main goal is to provide facilities as well
as funding for top researchers in computer science and engineering. It is
hoped that the institute will not draw the most talented professors away
from teaching.

Students like it at home

>International activities are limited to a couple of research projects.
>Greater emphasis should be placed on students' internationalisation.
>Only 2-3 students take part into exchange programmes annually. This is
>due, in part, to the fact that so many students also have part-time
>employment. It is recommended that the programme staff give additional
>recognition to student participation in international activities. 

>Tässä on tapahtunut virhe. Vaihto-opiskelijoita ei ole kovin paljon
>laitoksen  koon suhteen, mutta niitä oli kuitenkin 8 kpl vuonna 1998
>(niin kuin ilmoitettu) ja 11 vuonna 1999.

>Korjaus: Luvun korjaus riittää?

Under the same roof

The department of Computer Science is also responsible for teaching some
of the basic courses on computer science at the University of Helsinki.
As the way the university funds the department is mostly based on the
graduation numbers the money available for running the basic courses is
said to be limited when compared to the size of the groups in the
studies. Some of the largest lectures hosted about 600 students. The
department approach to accepting students to the courses is very
traditional: broad range of subjects, available to all students who can
benefit from them. 

The department maintains the largest library in the field of computer
science in Finland. There are about 52 000 volumes available for the
staff and students. The collections are freely available to all visitors.
Home loans, however, are normally granted only to university personnel
and advanced students of the department. 

The University of Helsinki has facilities scattered around the Helsinki
area. The department staff felt that the current location is isolated
from the rest of the university. There have been some plans to build new
facilities to Kumpula. New and bigger facilities could link together more
science departments. 


Recommendations: There seem to be two management systems in use, formal
and informal. It is recommended that management priorities are clarified.
This would also enable more focused long term planning. The group size in
some of the basic courses is alarmingly high. Addressing this should be a
one of the top priorities in the department. Collecting feedback from the
students should be improved. The university should consider initiating
more activity related to industry and internationalisation. 

Good practice: Identification and development of specialisation areas for
computing industry. A cooperative research venture (HIIT) between the two
universities (HU and HUT). Programme designed to attract female students
above the average in the field. History of allowing some students freely
to work on personal development projects.