The ministry has approved three new IT degree programmes at Aarhus University
The Ministry of Higher Education and Science just approved three new IT industry-oriented new degree programmes: two BSc and one MSc.
Approval of new research-based engineering Bachelor’s degree programmes has been granted to Aarhus University – one in computer technology and one in electrical engineering. Both are three-year programmes which constitute the first phase of a five-year Master of Science in Engineering programme. They will be offered at the Department of Engineering.
The new programmes are an important element in Aarhus University’s strategic investments in engineering in and digitisation. Niels Christian Nielsen, the dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, stresses the demand for highly-specialised engineers with theoretical insight.
“There’s an enormous need for highly-trained engineers with strong digital competencies, both in business and industry and in research contexts. The new engineering degree programmes are a decisive link in the food chain which will meet this need,” he says.
Master’s degree programme in humans and machines
Aarhus University will also be offering a new IT-oriented master’s degree in cognitive science at the School of Communication and Culture. The new Master’s degree programme in cognitive science is a unique combination of cognitive science and strong IT competencies, and will not be available elsewhere in Denmark.
It aims to prepare graduates for careers in the private sector: they will have skills in humans-machine interaction, prediction of behaviour on the background of cognitive analysis, and the analysis of large datasets. The degree programme will be based on the university’s existing Bachelor’s degree programme in cognitive science, which has extremely high admission requirements and a very high proportion of female students (66 per cent) compared to other IT degree programmes.
Johnny Laursen, dean of the Faculty of Arts, is pleased that the university will now be offering an advanced cognitive science programme with a focus on the needs of the labour market.
“Graduates who can use digital tools on human terms are in demand on the labour market. That’s what this new degree programme does, based on the latest scientific breakthroughs. As a consequence, we will now be able to meet students’ need for new knowledge at the highest level, to the benefit of the employers of our graduates,” states Laursen.
Aarhus University will also be offering the fourth of the five new degree programmes approved by the ministry: a degree programme in international food quality and health which will be offered in collaboration between Danish and Chinese educational and research institutions under the auspices of the Sino-Danish Center.
All of the new degree programmes will be offered starting in 2019 on the condition that Aarhus University achieves positive institutional accreditation. This will be decided in late 2018.