Message from the Dean

I am pleased to extend this welcome to you on behalf of all the staff of the Faculty of Information Technology at UTS. We are renowned as the premier provider of university-level IT education in the Sydney region. We are one of the few university faculties in Australia that focus solely on IT, with programs that cover both the fundamentals of information technology as well as cutting edge technologies.

The Faculty has an enviable array of programs at Bachelor's level that are unique in their industry-linked nature. These include Bachelor's degrees in Information Technology and Computing. The strong practical focus and industrial training components of these programs set UTS apart from other universities. An important aspect of our undergraduate programs is our combined degrees, which include Law (LLB) and Business (BBus). These combined degrees allow students to complete one double-degree in less time than it would take to complete the two stand-alone degrees. Students may also combine IT with International Studies. The Bachelor of Information Technology provides students with generous scholarships from companies who are eager in return to hire graduates of the very highest quality. In 2005, new Dean's incentive scholarships will be introduced for both local and international students.

The Faculty has a commitment to lifelong learning for experienced professionals. It offers a stable of postgraduate coursework and short courses that are intended to satisfy various career development needs. The new Master of Science in Professional Computing offers an opportunity for IT professionals to update their skills in a variety of streams, such as computer graphics and gaming, data mining, e-business technology, human-centred design, organisational systems, and software engineering. The IT Management program provides a unique opportunity for management education to those with substantial experience in the IT industry. The Faculty has also introduced the Master of Science in Advanced Computing, which allows students to study emerging technologies and advanced topics in IT, and enables them to apply these skills and knowledge in a research environment.

The postgraduate program in Internetworking, through the UTS local Cisco Academy, aims to retrain practising IT people to support the explosive growth in Internet and Intranet technologies. This program has attracted large numbers of students who use state-of-the-art Internetworking laboratories. The program is now offered full time to support the demand from international students wishing to undertake this program. This program incorporates the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) program from Cisco Systems. Thus graduates are able to obtain an industry certification as well as a university award. Elements of the CCNA program are also included in our undergraduate programs.

The Faculty has an international outlook and aims to become a faculty of high international standing. Significant numbers of high-quality international students have enrolled in our various programs.

The Faculty continues to develop its research profile, with significant successes in attracting research funding and publications. It is an active participant in several nationally funded Cooperative Research Centres. The Faculty's strategic priority to significantly boost its research profile in recent years has been very successful in terms of attracting increased research funding from the Australian Research Council, and in the enrolment of record numbers of PhD students.

The Faculty has a strong research profile in a number of fields such as computer–human systems, distributed knowledge and intelligence, networking and mobility, software engineering and visual information processing. The Creativity and Cognition Studios provide a multi-disciplinary research environment for advancing our understanding of computer–human systems through the study of interaction design, human work practice and creative practice in the digital arts and design. The distributed knowledge and intelligence research group brings together the knowledge processing, ontologies, agents, collaboration for successful global collaboration. The research of the networking and mobility group focuses on developing architectures and enabling mechanisms for a service-oriented infrastructure. The focus of the software engineering group is to develop quality software and systems on a large scale through research into areas such as object technology, e-business, requirements engineering, software process improvement and method engineering. Research conducted by the visual information processing group encompasses areas such as computer vision, image analysis, visual pattern recognition, visualisation and computer graphics.

The Faculty's research expertise allows a strong approach to teaching informed by our research. In addition, our collaborative industry links put the Faculty in a unique position to ensure our programs are practically oriented, as well as theoretically sound.

The Faculty's move to new accommodation on City campus has greatly increased both the quantity and quality of available space. We are the envy of other IT faculties around the country with modern laboratories sustaining the most recent and sophisticated equipment to ensure a state-of-the-art experiential teaching experience. This has significantly enhanced the Faculty's teaching and research programs as it moves to the next phase of its development.

Finally, it is important to remember that there are many activities and opportunities available within UTS that enrich the experience of university life. I commend these activities to you. Support services, provided by experienced and sympathetic staff, can help students through the difficult times that often arise. I hope that your time at UTS is both enjoyable and productive. I am confident that it will assist you in achieving both professional and personal success.

Professor Tharam Dillon
Dean