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. The strong practical focus and industrial training components of these programs set UTS apart from other universities.

The undergraduate programs have been redesigned to address skills shortages in the IT marketplace. An important aspect of our undergraduate programs is our combined degrees, which include Business and 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 2008, there are Australian Computer Society Foundation Dean's incentive scholarships for both local students enrolling in the Bachelor of Science in IT and international students.

The Faculty has a commitment to lifelong learning for experienced professionals. It offers postgraduate coursework and short courses that are intended to satisfy various career development needs.

The Faculty is always receptive to industry and students' needs and conducted a review of its postgraduate programs in 2007. As a result, the Master of Information Technology program has been redesigned for 2008 and will offer a wide array of specialist streams.

The Information Technology Management, Internetworking and Interactive Multimedia programs have been retained. The Master of Business in IT Management program provides a unique opportunity for strategic management education to those with substantial experience in the IT industry.

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 incorporates the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) program from Cisco Systems.

The Interactive Multimedia program, taught in conjunction with the Institute for Interactive Media and Learning, continues to educate the innovators and future leaders of the various professions working in multimedia.

The Faculty has an international outlook and is a faculty of high international standing. Significant numbers of high-quality international students are enrolled in our various programs.

The Faculty has a strong research profile, with significant successes in attracting research funding and publications in the top international journals, conferences and books. 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 three research strengths in Intelligent Information Systems (UTS:CIIS), Innovation in IT Services and Applications (iNEXT) and Human Centred Technology Design (HCTD). Research groups in the Faculty also have formal links to external organisations such as Capital Markets CRC, Australian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) and ARC Research Network in Enterprise Information Infrastructure (EII).

The Faculty's research expertise enriches our teaching and, 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 accommodation on the City campus is the envy of other IT faculties around the country with modern laboratories providing 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. 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 Tom Hintz, Dean