University of The Free State Information Technology

Overview of the department

• We have 25 full-time staff members that are involved in teaching and research.
• Resources include 230 computers in 3 computer laboratories, as well as a dedicated honours computer laboratory.
• Research equipment includes eye-trackers, Emotiv Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI’s), iPads as well as user interface gloves.
• Several research projects are continuously in progress.

Vision

University of The Free State Information Technology, The Department of Computer Science and Informatics at the University of the Free State strives to be a dynamic department that provides high-quality teaching, produces sought-after graduates, and conducts focused research in diverse areas whilst servicing the industry and community.

Mission

Towards this end, the department will:

• Enable its undergraduate students to master the fundamental principles of computing and develop the skills needed to solve practical problems using contemporary computer-based technologies and practices;
• Empower its postgraduate students to understand advanced concepts, develop new technologies and methods, and expand the base of fundamental knowledge;
• Cultivate a research culture that encourages scholarship and facilitates both applied and theoretical research.

Guiding values

In support of our vision and mission, our core values include a belief in and a commitment to:

• Mutual respect: Treating ourselves and others with care, respect and dignity, appreciating individual and cultural differences and accepting the right of others to hold different or opposing views.
• Integrity: Providing an environment of trust, accountability, honesty, and tolerance where all feel welcome, accepted and respected.
• Quality and excellence: Pursuing the highest intellectual and ethical standards in teaching and learning, in research and research training, and in the conduct of all our professional activities, with evidence of continuous improvement.
• Cooperation and communication: Working together proactively and productively with open and honest communication to achieve common goals, providing support to others, sharing ideas and solutions, and engaging in peaceful resolution of conflict.
• Creativity and innovation: Being open-minded, dynamic, proactive, and flexible in actively developing new solutions, encouraging new ways of thinking, and finding new ways of working.

Undergraduate programmes

University of The Free State Information Technology, All our undergraduate programmes provide you with the basic skills required by the IT industry. You can choose to combine the IT modules with a number of other modules, depending on your choice of career. For the various BSc(IT) learning programmes, the IT modules can be combined with other scientific modules such as Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, or Mathematical Statistics. If you are a more business-oriented person, the new BSc(IT) Information Systems learning programme, where the IT modules are combined with commercial modules such as Accounting, Economics, and Business Management, might be a better option for you.

Postgraduate programmes

After successfully completing your undergraduate IT learning programmes, you can move on to the postgraduate programmes. Our honours programmes will provide you with exposure to more specialised IT topics such as Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, Human Computer Interaction and Advanced Programming. On master’s level, you can either choose the research programme or the structured learning programme (with specialisation in Human Computer Interaction, Computer Science Education, Data Warehousing or Eye Tracking). After successful completion of a master’s programme, you may enrol for a PhD.

Research

The departmental research activities focus on the fields of Human Computer Interaction (incorporating natural user interfaces), Data Warehousing, Computer Science Education, and Eye Tracking. Our department hosts a Telkom Centre of Excellence, focusing on research to improve the usability of devices and gadgets.

Should you have any queries, please email us.