Information for students

The Faculty of Information Technology operates with three departments: Computer Systems, Information Systems, and Software Engineering. Together these disciplines form the basis of 'enabling technologies' for applications in most other disciplines. Student administration functions are all centralised at Faculty level. Teaching is carried out at City campus, Broadway.

A range of professional degrees are offered, from undergraduate through to Doctoral studies. The Faculty maintains a strong commitment to cooperative education, of both the work experience 'sandwich' form and the cooperative scholarship form. The Faculty continues to be active in research and has strong links with industry in all aspects of its work.

Location, contacts and inquiries

All Faculty staff are located at Building 10, City campus, Broadway.

Refer to the Faculty Contacts page for all staff contact details.

Refer to the Building 10 Student Centre for student administration inquiries:

Academic advisers

Undergraduate programs in information technology

Dr Madhu Goyal

Dr Helen Lu

Suresh Paryani

Dr Jim Underwood (Program Leader)

Bachelor of Information Technology

Priyadarsi Nanda (Program Leader)

Honours program

Dr Valerie Gay

Postgraduate programs in computing and information technology

IT program

Kyeong-Soon Kang

Rene Leveaux (Program Leader)

Alan Sixsmith

Master of Business in IT Management, Graduate Certificate in Strategic IT Leadership

Associate Professor Ken Dovey

Internetworking Program and CISCO Network Academy

Dr Qiang Wu

Graduate Certificate in IT Project Management

Dr George Feuerlicht

Postgraduate research degrees

Associate Professor Jie Lu

Academic liaison officers

Dr Daniel Chandran

Dr Jim Underwood (Program Leader)

Indigenous academic officer

Stephen Grant

Jumbunna liaison

Dr Toni Robertson

International selection

Dr Wayne Brookes

Library

Dr Daniel Chandran

Undergraduate projects

Dr Tony Jan

Postgraduate projects

Associate Professor Barry Jay

Associate Professor David Wilson

Environmental Health and Safety Plan

The Faculty is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for students, staff and visitors, and adopting a socially responsible approach towards protecting and sustaining the environment. Promoting a safe, healthy and environmentally-sound environment is the resonsibilty of all staff.

The Faculty has an Environmental Health and Safety Plan, copies of which are available on the Faculty's website. Staff and students should familiarise themselves with the plan and comply with all hazard procedures outlined in it.

The names and locations of First Aid Officers, and of first aid kits, are indicated by appropriate signs in Faculty and Department areas.

Computing facilities

The Faculty provides computer laboratories, network services and high bandwidth Internet access for use in teaching and research. This gives students the software and information they need for their subjects and the services to communicate and collaborate with their peers. Personal laptops can also be used to access network services and the Internet.

Teaching laboratories

Computer laboratories

The Faculty has 17 computer laboratories that are used in many subjects. They are regularly updated with the latest hardware and undergo a complete upgrade of operating systems and programs before most semesters.

Most labs offer students a choice of operating systems at the login screen, which gives the laboratories great flexibility to meet student and class needs. The Faculty's labs can be grouped into 11 general purpose laboratories, each of 30 computers, as well as three internetworking labs, two professional presentation labs and a graphics lab.

Access

Except during scheduled classes, general access to laboratories is:

• 8.00 am – 10.00 pm, Monday to Friday, during semester
• 9.00 am – 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday, outside semester.

Booking times are located on laboratory doors.

Seven-days-per-week, 24-hour access is provided to some laboratories throughout the University, this includes some of the Faculty's labs.

Network Services

The Faculty provides a unix shell, via ssh, with a home directory that is backed up regularly, and a print quota for the Faculty's student printers. Students can access additional services, this is normally organised by their lecturers; services including Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL databases, Subversion repositories, and internal websites.

Breakout Rooms and Lounge Areas

These areas provide space for students to collaborate together or for individuals to have time on their own. All areas have access to the wireless network and many, particularly the breakout rooms, have whiteboards, wired access and power. Breakout rooms can be booked and are suited for groups wanting a private meeting space, while the atrium lounge and table areas are more casual and social spaces.

Specific-purpose laboratories

Access to specific-purpose laboratories is arranged by the academic involved in a particular subject or research project.

Internetworking laboratories

These three laboratories are equipped with user configurable rack mounted network equipment for teaching computer network subjects.

Graphics laboratory

A laboratory of specially equipped computers for graphic intensive subjects is available. In particular, the computers have advanced graphic accelerator cards and the Maya software application.

Creativity and Cognition studios

These studios form a multidisciplinary environment for research into computing support for creativity and into the development of new art forms and art practice using digital media. They include a sound studio and a video wall with an interaction space incorporating a range of sensor systems.

Access Grid

The Faculty operates an Access Grid (AG) node on behalf of the University. This provides a research environment for the study of issues relating to collaborative work in distributed environments. The AG utilises a high-bandwidth environment for virtual meetings. The AG node at UTS is provided for the use of the research community at UTS and is connected to a multi-gigabit experimental network to support grid and advanced communication services.

Remote access facility

The remote access facility provides modem access for students and staff. This gives users access to the Faculty's computing systems and the Internet.

Help desk facility

The Faculty's help desk, located in the Technical Support Centre at CB10.3.370, provides users with information on the usage of equipment, software and facilities, help with problems and is a point of contact for reporting faults and feedback: telephone +61 2 9514 1869.

Diploma of Information Technology Professional Practice

• Testamur title: Diploma of Information Technology Professional Practice
• Abbreviation: DipITProfPrac
• Load credit points: 12

The Diploma of Information Technology Professional Practice is not available as a separate course, but is received upon completion of the Industrial Training component of some of the Faculty's undergraduate programs.

Note that when an international student chooses to undertake the DipITProfPrac, it is classified as a requirement of the course and such students are permitted to work in excess of the 20 hours per week normally allowed by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).

Overview

The DipITProfPrac may be undertaken in:

• Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Diploma of Information Technology Professional Practice (C10152)
• Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Diploma of Information Technology Professional Practice, Bachelor of Laws (C10141), or
• Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Diploma of Information Technology Professional Practice, Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (C10150).

Students find the Diploma extremely beneficial in relating the final year of coursework to the practical needs of the information industry, and this experience can be cited when applying for graduate career positions.

Course aims

The Diploma aims to develop students' technical and generic work skills in a workplace environment, and to enable students to develop lifelong learning skills so they gain a better understanding of the relationship between theory and practice.

Additional admission requirements

No student is permitted to enrol in the DipITProfPrac until they have obtained suitable employment and completed successfully (or been exempted from) all subjects that are prerequisites for Industrial Training in the particular undergraduate course they are undertaking. Contact the Faculty for details of prerequisite subjects.

Additional advanced standing

In exceptional circumstances students completing the DipITProfPrac may be granted an exemption from the subjects 31137 IT Experience 1 and 31139 IT Experience 2, if they have at least 12 months of suitable recent full-time employment. In general, contracting and self-employment are not regarded as suitable employment.

Students will not be exempted from 31136 Preparation and Review of IT Experience and 31138 Review of IT Experience.

No student may apply for an exemption from 31137 and 31139 until after successful completion of (or exemption from) all subjects that are prerequisites for Industrial Training.

Course duration and attendance

Students are required to obtain an approved, full-time job within the information technology industry for a minimum of nine months.

Course structure

Full-time BSc(InfTech), DipITProfPrac (C10152) students normally undertake the DipITProfPrac and Industrial Training after completing Year 2, and part-time students after completing Year 4.

BSc(InfTech), DipITProfPrac, LLB (C10141) students normally undertake the DipITProfPrac after completing Semester 7.

BSc(InfTech), DipITProfPrac, BA (C10150) students normally undertake the DipITProfPrac after completing Year 4.

Other information

Although securing suitable employment is the student's responsibility, the Faculty provides assistance to all students – refer to the DipITProfPrac Student Guide for the procedure to be followed.

Students seeking a position without assistance from the Faculty should first make an appointment to see the Industry Liaison Officer. If a student finds employment, a second appointment must be made to see the Industry Liaison Officer to obtain certification that the employment is suitable.

For further information contact the Faculty on:

Short courses

The Faculty offers a variety of professional, commercial and customised courses throughout the year in the areas of computing and information technology. Courses regularly on offer include Advanced Java (J2EE), Developing Windows and Web Applications using Visual Studio .NET, Fundamentals of Unix, IP Telephony and Voice Over IP (VoIP), Java Fundamentals, Network Security, Object-oriented Programming with C++, Programming with C, SQL Server 2005 for Business Intelligence, SQL Server 2005 for Developers, Fundamentals of Unix (Solaris and Linux), Integrating PHP with My SQL, Linux Systems Administration and a range of Cisco certified network academy preparation stages for certification - CCNA stages 1 to 4. These courses are offered by the UTS Cisco Networking Academy. Courses may also be customised to suit corporate training needs. Information on all short courses is available from the Faculty on: