Annual Report 2013

Annual Report 2013

Department of Computer Science 2013

The favourable development of the department continued in 2013, and several of the indicators reached a new high. The external funding (5.16 MEUR), foreign employees (27%), credits gained by students (nearly 27,000) and publications (248) are some of the numbers that reached record levels. At the same time, the reformation of research education and the department’s long-term centre-of-excellence programme coming to an end entail big changes that will require us to work hard to maintain the standards we have gained.

In 2013, 56 bachelor’s, 71 master’s, and 11 doctoral degrees were completed in computer science. The decrease in bachelor’s degrees that started in 2012 continued. However, the number of master’s degrees started an upward trend, and the number of doctoral degrees reached record levels. Students seem to be enthusiastic about their studies, judging from the number of credits gained. This year, new students were also accepted on the basis of MOOC grades. This seems to be a channel for bringing highly motivated students to the department. The new Teachers’ Academy was established at the university. Three of the department's instructors are members in the Academy.

The number of person-years completed at the department was 163, which means that we have returned to normal from the slump of year 2011. The increase was concentrated mainly to post-doctoral researchers, who already make up 22 person-years. This increase is an indication of the growing external funding for the department. It now made up some 44% of the department’s total funding. Research assistants still make up too large a part of the research staff.

As a new strategic undertaking, the department consolidated and extended the teaching and research in data security. A new professorship was established in this area, manned by N Asokan so far. In addition, a research laboratory was set up at the department in collaboration with the Intel corporation.

The research continues from strength to strength at the department: we participated in four national centres of excellence elected by the Finnish Academy, and coordinated the work of two ICT-SHOK research programmes. Algodan, the centre of excellence in algorithmic data analysis, headed for 12 years by the department, ended in 2013. At the same time, the department and HIIT are coordinating the new strategic Tekes unit, Revolution in knowledge work, and a new EU project. The reformation of research education started dramatically at the department; we had been very successful in the old research schools funded by the Finnish Academy and had gained funding for some 15 doctoral students. In the new application for university positions, we only gained 2.

There were some changes to the department’s staff structure. After some twenty years without them, assistant professors are again established at the department as Mikko Koivisto and Teemu Roos started their new duties. The questionnaire on work atmosphere indicated that the department is still a good place to work, one of the best departments at the university.

As my period in office draws to an end I want to thank the people of the department for their excellent and cheerful cooperation, and I want to wish Jukka Paakki all the best as he starts his work in this intriguing post as head of the department.

 

Esko Ukkonen

Professor, Head of Department 2013