The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has commissioned an external evaluation panel to evaluate the IT University of Copenhagen (IT-C). The purpose of this document is to assist the evaluation panel by presenting an overview of the goals and visions of the IT-C and a summary of the main results that the IT-C has delivered during its three years of existence.

The IT-C was established in 1999 as the result of a joint initiative by several stakeholders, including the business community, the existing universities, the Ministry of Research and Information Technology and the Ministry of Education. The first comprehensive description of the visions and goals of the IT-C was the report "Promotion of IT Research and Education" [1], which was published by the Ministry of Research and Information Technology in October 1998 on the basis of the committee work, which had been carried out together with the stakeholders.

The IT-C was established as an independent faculty, and Copenhagen Business School became the host institution of the IT-C. The Minister of Research and Information Technology appointed an Interim Board of Directors consisting of the rectors of the four existing universities of the region and five executives from private and public companies. It was also decided that the organisation and performance of the IT-C was to be evaluated after an initial trial period in order to decide on its future. It is this evaluation, which is now taking place.

After the IT-C was established, it began its own strategy work. This resulted in a comprehensive internal strategy document, which formed the basis of a development contract with the Ministry of Research and Information Technology [7].

We consider that the two documents, [1] and [7], form the basis of the evaluation. The fundamental questions of the evaluation, as we see it, are:

1. To what extent do the results reached by the IT-C live up to what the external stakeholders originally asked for?

2. To what extent has the IT-C achieved the goals set in its contract with the Ministry of Research and Information Technology?

3. How far along the way is the IT-C towards reaching its vision?

To shed light on those questions, we give a summary of [1] in chapter 2. In chapter 3, we describe the visions of the IT-C and give an overview of the strategy process. In the subsequent chapters, we give an overview of the goals and results within the following areas:

· Organisation (chapter 4)

· Education (chapter 5)

· Research (chapter 6)

· Infrastructure (chapter 7)

· Finances (chapter 8)

Finally, in the conclusion (see 9), we summarise our answers to the three questions raised above.

2 Historical Background for the Establishment of the IT-C

The ground for the establishment of the IT University of Copenhagen (IT-C) was laid in a government report [1] in 1998. The report recommended that the IT-C and its sister organisation, IT University West[1] (IT-Vest), be established. We cite from the report:

[The IT universities are] to create new research-based IT study programmes, which meet the requirements of users of IT research and IT educated staff in terms of the content of the courses of study. [1, page 13]

This will include a breakdown of barriers and an educational shift within the IT field so that it appeals to a much wider segment of young people than is the case today. In addition, more women students and researchers should be recruited. [1, page 13]

Students who are already in the process of acquiring a degree should be encouraged to combine their studies with elements from an IT programme or with a complete higher education programme in IT. [1, page 13]

A varied and up-to-date selection of higher education and continuing education and training programmes of a very high standard have to be developed. [1, page 13]

The research activities have to be based firmly on a strong research and development environment aiming at gaining a leading international position in line with the Government’s national strategy for IT research. [1, page 14]

A dynamic public-private interaction should be established both in the areas of education and in research and development. [1, page 14]

An effective utilisation and co-ordination of resources, including increased institutional co-operation, should be ensured. [1, page 14]

The Minister of Research and Information Technology appointed an Interim Board of Directors for the IT-C. It consisted of

· Mr Mogens Munk Rasmussen, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer of Nykredit A/S

· Mr Kim Østrup, Deputy Director of IBM Denmark A/S

· Ms Lilian Morgensen, Deputy Director of ATP[2]

· Mr Preben Damgaard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Damgaard Holding A/S

· Ms Anne E. Jensen, Member of the European Parliament

· Dr Kjeld Møllgård, Rector of the University of Copenhagen (KU)

· Dr Hans Peter Jensen, Rector of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

· Dr Henrik Toft Jensen, Rector of Roskilde University (RUC)

· Dr Finn Junge-Jensen, Rector of Copenhagen Business School (CBS)

The IT-C was given the status of independent faculty at CBS. Briefly, this means that the IT-C is part of the CBS but also that the Interim Board of Directors and the Managing Director, who is appointed by the board, lead the IT-C.

This arrangement was made possible through an exemption clause in the Danish University Act (Section 12 (1) of the Danish University Act). Universities normally have elected leaders at all levels. The IT-C has appointed leaders at all levels except for the boards of studies, which consist of an equal number of elected students and research staff.

The first Director of the IT-C, Dr Mads Tofte, was appointed on 1 April 1999.

The IT-C opened on 31 August 1999 with approx.150 graduate students, four new study programmes and a staff of some 20 people.

The four study programmes were: Software Development (SWD); Design, Communication and Media (DCM); Interdisciplinary IT (IIT); and Electronic Business (EB). Of these, SWD and DCM were taught primarily by the staff of the IT-C, IIT was taught by RUC and EB was taught by the CBS.

3 Vision, Strategy and Goals

To explain the essence of the IT-C, the term information technology is defined and explained. After that, the external values – the vision – and the internal values of the IT-C are presented. Finally, the strategy and goals of the IT-C are described.

3.1 What is IT?

Information technology is defined as follows:

Information technology (IT) is all technology, which involves computers.

Note that, with the above definition, information technology includes digital communication technology, so there is no need to include the word “communication” in the term information technology. Whereas computers were originally thought of as machines for calculation and computation, they are now also machines for communication and interaction.

The original distinction between the technical experts, who develop the technology, and the users, who use it (but cannot change it), is getting blurred. The trend is that more people are able to use the technology, and that more people are able to use it constructively, i.e. users become able to construct the things they need using the technology. At the same time, however, there is now so much knowledge invested in information technology that everybody, even experts, understand only a tiny fraction of all the knowledge involved in their everyday use of IT.

Information technology represents a quantum leap in the history of mankind. The raw material of the information technology is neither steel nor electrical power but mental constructions: Information technology is concerned with the creation and use of mental constructions. These mental constructions may be about practically anything within the scope of human experience. Therefore, information technology is intrinsically a multidisciplinary field. Computer science is an important part of IT. But other fields are important too, e.g. aesthetics, design, language, ethics, philosophy, planning and management, organisation theory, law and strategic use of IT.

As a consequence, the IT-C is designed to attract researchers and students from many different fields. What they all have in common is that they work on some aspect of IT. But since computers are so versatile, an IT university can easily have researchers and students from almost every subject studied in a traditional university. Indeed, the IT-C has employed researchers from the humanities, the natural sciences and the social sciences areas, and the graduate students at the IT-C come from more than 90 different bachelor degree programmes and approx. 30 other education programmes.

3.2 Vision, Strategy and Goals

The strategy for the IT-C consists of the following components:

· Vision: What is the ideal state for the IT-C?

· Goals: Which results do we need to deliver, if we are to make good progress towards the vision?

· Plans: Which tasks need to be carried out in order to deliver the results, by whom and when?

Below, we describe the vision and some of the goals[3].

3.2.1 Vision

The current vision[4] of the IT-C is that :

1. the IT-C is to be counted among the leading organisations in the evolution of IT;

2. the IT-C is to conduct research at the highest scientific level as judged by the international peer communities;

3. the IT-C is to conduct research, which creates added value for society, including industry and the public sector;

4. the IT-C is to offer research-based IT Master of Science programmes, which attract and excite excellent graduates from a wide range of bachelor degree programmes (primarily within the natural sciences, the humanities and the business studies main areas);

5. the education offered at the IT-C is to result in the production of a large number of graduates who have qualifications, which employers consider highly attractive;

6. the research education offered at the IT-C is to contribute to a marked increase in the volume of first-rate IT-research in Denmark;

7. the IT-C is to provide lifelong learning programmes at Master's and Diploma level, which lay emphasis on practically oriented but durable knowledge;

8. the IT-C is to work with its constituents on formulating visions and goals, and that it is to develop the organisation that best achieves the goals.

The vision states why the IT-C makes a valuable contribution to society. It is accompanied by “values we live by”, i.e. a vision for our working culture:

· There are different sub-cultures at the IT-C, both in terms of types of positions and in terms of scientific tradition.

· At the IT-C, different sub-cultures enrich each other.

· People who work at the IT-C are open-minded and curious.

· Working relations are based on respect for the individual.

· Respect is based on an understanding of what others do and why they are doing it.

· Co-operation is based on the "reasonable person principle", i.e. it is assumed that everyone is reasonable and responsible, and consequently there is no need for a lot of rules and formal policies to prevent bad things from happening.

· It is important to give and get feedback.

· Everybody works through the organisation, i.e. everybody respects the official channels of the organisation and works within the organisation through these channels.

3.2.2 Strategy and Goals

From April 1999 to the summer of 2000, the strategy of the IT-C was very simple:

· to design interesting new study programmes that matched the expectations expressed in [1], (see 2);

· to attract first-rate staff and students;

· to establish a network of courses and teachers in the region; and

· to create administrative routines.

The number of staff and students was only a fraction of what it is today: During the autumn of 1999, the IT-C had less than 200 students and some 20 staff, including administrative personnel. There were no formalised procedures beyond the ones given at the national level. Problems were solved in an ad-hoc manner as they arose. Concerning the network, we started a web of the partnerships we had with other institutions in the region: CBS, RUC, KU, DTU, Malmö University (Sweden) and Danmarks Designskole[5]. The result was that we were able to offer around 35 courses to the first group of students.

The focus on teaching and administration continued in 2000. New courses were added to cover the second and third semesters of the four-semester programmes so that the number of courses more than doubled during 2000. The student intake accelerated faster than had been expected in [1], so the need for staff rose sharply (see 5.5). With the sharp increase in the number of people in the organisation, the need for administrative systems and routines rose too.

Initially, the scientific staff was grouped according to the degree programmes they taught. In 2000, it was decided to re-group all scientific staff into research departments in order to turn the focus of the scientific staff from teaching to research. After some months of consideration, we decided to create four research departments (see 6.4). Researchers were assigned to departments according to the types of goals they pursue with their research (as opposed to the subject they research).

As a consequence of this re-organisation, the research departments were asked to define their own goals. This led to four “goal documents”, one for each research department [3, 4, 5, 6] (see 6.4). Concurrently, the Director started working on a strategy document for the entire IT-C covering the period up to 2003. Over a period of about a year and after many revisions and discussions with the heads of departments, the document evolved from fairly abstract visions about what the IT-C should be all about to a combination of overall visions and a long list of measurable goals.

In 2001, the IT-C started negotiating with the Ministry of Research and Information Technology about a contract covering the period 2001 to 2003. The strategy document was modified during the negotiations so as to ensure coherence between the strategy that was being formed externally with the Ministry and the strategy that was being formed internally with the heads of departments at the IT-C. The contract with the ministry was signed in October 2001 [7].

Also during 2001, a Teaching Advisory Board was set up consisting of advisors from private and public companies (see 4.5). Furthermore, the IT-C formed a Foresight Panel of international experts on research and research management (see 4.4). The Foresight Panel visited the IT-C on 1 March 2002 [2]. The panel recommended that the IT-C should formulate a set of values that we create and deliver (to the rest of the world) and formulate a set of values that we live by internally. The panel also suggested that the goal documents of the research departments be made more specific to the departments and that the general goals from the departmental goal documents be transformed to common goals for the entire IT-C.

This process is currently taking place. First, we have revised the vision of the IT-C so that it now expresses the values we create and deliver (see 3.2.1). Moreover, we are discussing both the values we create and deliver and the values we live by at all levels of the organisation, and the outcome will be reflected in the budget for 2003.

Another strategic effort has been a “cultural pilot study” at the IT-C. Steffen Löfvall, who is co-founder of Netstrategen ApS[6] and external lecturer at CBS, conducted the study together with a group of students. They studied various cultural aspects of how researchers work and interact at the IT-C and presented their findings on a one-day seminar held on 29 May 2002. The survey identified some of the challenges that are caused by bringing together scientists from very different scientific traditions to work on IT and made suggestions as to how to overcome them.

4 Organisation

The organisation of administration, research and teaching at the IT-C is described, and after this the Foresight Panel and Teaching Advisory Board are presented. Finally, the staff, management and the forum of both parties – the liaison committee – are described.

4.1 Overview of the Organisation

The IT-C was created as an independent faculty under CBS in 1999. Whereas most universities in Denmark have elected leaders at all levels, the IT-C has appointed leaders at almost all levels (see 2). The organisation is depicted in the figure below.

The top-most level at the IT-C is the Interim Board of Directors, which was appointed by the then Minister of Research and Information Technology, Jan Trøjborg, in 1999.

The rectors of CBS (the host institution of the independent faculty), KU, RUC and DTU became born members of the Interim Board of Directors. The five remaining members of the Board represent private and public sector companies (other than universities) with a strong interest in IT.

Organisational chart

The Interim Board of Directors currently consists of:

· Mr Mogens Munk Rasmussen, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer of Nykredit A/S

· Mr Kim Østrup, Deputy Director of IBM Denmark A/S

· Ms Lilian Mogensen, Deputy Director of ATP

· Ms Anne E. Jensen, Member of the European Parliament

· Dr Linda Nielsen, Rector of University of Copenhagen

· Dr Lars Pallesen, Rector of Technical University of Denmark

· Dr Henrik Toft Jensen, Rector of Roskilde University

· Dr Finn Junge-Jensen, Rector of Copenhagen Business School

The Board appoints the Director who in turn is responsible for all other appointments.

4.2 Organisation of Administration and Research

The IT-C has five administrative departments:

· Finance

· Personnel

· IT

· Facility Management

· Student Administration.

After three years, the administration of the IT-C has become largely independent of the host institution. The IT-C has its own Finance Department, which handles all the financial matters of the IT-C. The department has introduced a Navision IT solution, which we now use for all essential financial matters. The IT-C has its own Personnel Department, which is fully capable of handling personnel matters according to Danish law. The Student Administration handles admission of students, course registration, examinations and graduation. The IT Department runs a self-contained server park and a large network of computing equipment for teaching and research. Finally, the Facility Management takes care of the facilities of the IT-C, including buildings and equipment. The only significant data dependency between the IT-C and CBS are that the IT-C Student Administration uses the HSAS[7] system for recording data about students.

There are four research departments:

· Design and Use of Information Technology (DUIT)

· Digtial Aesthetics and Communication (DiAC)

· Innovation (DoI)

· Theory.

These departments are manned by full professors, associate and assistant professors, administrative staff and PhD students. Their employment is governed by the rules and procedures that apply to employment of staff at all Danish universities.

As already mentioned in 3.2.2, the organising principle for the research departments is that research departments distribute researchers according to the types of goals the researchers pursue. For example, some researchers are primarily interested in inventing new research-based technology. They are found in the Department of Innovation. The other departments have different types of goals, but all departments have goals that have arisen out of careful deliberation.

4.3 Organisation of Teaching

In accordance with Danish traditions and the Danish University Act, the study pro-grammes are run by boards of studies, consisting of an equal number of elected students and research staff. Every study programme is the responsibility of one and only one board of studies, although one board of studies can be responsible for several study programmes. The responsibility, which the board has for a study programme includes decisions regarding the curriculum and employment of part-time teaching staff[8].

There are four boards of studies at the IT-C:

· The PhD Board of Studies is responsible for the PhD study programme

· The IT-C Board of Studies is responsible for

o the Master of Science study programmes: Design, Communication and Media; Software Development; Internet Technology (INT); Multimedia Technology (MMT);

o the Master of IT study programme: Design, Communication and Media; Software Development; Internet Technology; Multimedia Technology;

o the Diploma programme

· The EB Board of Studies is responsible for the Master of Science programme in Electronic Business, which is licensed to CBS

· The IIT Board of Studies is responsible for the Master of Science programme in Interdisciplinary IT, which is licensed to RUC.

The researchers on the two first boards of studies are employed at the IT-C. The researchers on the remaining two boards of studies are employed at CBS and RUC, respectively. To support the IT-C Board of Studies in the further development of the study programmes, we are establishing a new department – the Education Department. In addition, the department will be the organisational basis for all part-time teaching staff (see figure in 4.1).

4.4 The Foresight Panel

The Foresight Panel[9] advises the Management of the IT-C on the organisation and management of the IT-C with special emphasis on research. The first meeting was held on 1 March 2002. It has resulted in a re-thinking of the visions and strategy of the IT-C with emphasis on values we create and deliver and values we live by. Also, the Foresight Panel gave impetus to involving the research staff more closely in the formulation of the research strategy and to obtain a more focused research strategy.

The Foresight Panel consists of international experts on research and research management:

· Dr James McGroddy, retired Senior Vice President, IBM

· Dr Robin Milner, retired, Fellow of the Royal Society, Cambridge University

· Dr Mikkel Thorup, AT&T, New Jersey

· Dr Stuart Moulthrop, Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts, University of Baltimore

· Dr John Leslie King, School of Information, University of Michigan

4.5 Teaching Advisory Board

The Teaching Advisory Board consists of advisors from private and public companies, which are (potential) employers of IT-C graduates. The purpose of the board is to inform employers about the competencies, which graduates from IT-C have and, conversely, to get employers’ advice on what they need.

The Teaching Advisory Board has been active for over a year. It met every two months during the first year and will meet quarterly during the second year. Among other things, the advice has resulted in a change in the way project management is taught at the IT-C.

4.6 People

4.6.1 Number of Employees

At the IT-C, there are 151 people with research and teaching obligations. In addition there are approx. 60 lecturers based at partner institutions.

Of the 151 scientific staff members, there are 91 part-time employees and 60 people with both teaching and research obligations. The first number includes 36 external lecturers, 11 teaching assistants and 44 instructors. The number of full-time employees includes 2 professors, 15 associate professors, 8 assistant professors, 28 PhD students, 4 research assistants and 3 amanuenses.

For administrative support, there are 51 full-time employees and 13 part-time student assistants. Of the 51 full-time employees, there are 30 with university qualifications, 15 office clerks, 5 IT employees and 1 director. The distribution of employees according to category is depicted in the table below.

Category of employment			Number of employees
Scientific staff			151
	Part-time		91
		External lecturers	36
		Teaching assistants	11
		Instructors	44
	Full-time		60
		Professors	2
		Associate professors	15
		Assistant professors	8
		PhD students	28
		Amanuenses	3
		Research assistants	4
Administrative staff			64
	Part-time	Student assistants	13
	Full-time		51
		With university qualifications	30
		Office clerks	15
		IT employees	5
		Director	1

The distribution of employees according to category, May 2002

The grand total of employees at the IT-C is 215. The distribution by gender shows that 31% are women and 69% are men. The distribution by gender of the scientific staff shows that 17% are women and 83% are men. However, among the administrative staff there are 61% women and 39% men.

The distribution by age shows that 40% are younger than 30 years of age, 36% are between 30 and 40 years of age, 16% are between 40 and 50 years of age, and 8% are older than 50 years of age.

4.6.2 Number of Employees Required for Teaching

We have developed a normative model for the expected productivity measured in STÅ[10] for employees with teaching obligations (the so-called "STÅ"-model). The model is complicated, but it is among other things based on:

· Type of position. A PhD student for instance teaches less than an associate professor.

· The number of working hours in a year.

· The percentage of time, which is to be spent on teaching (a function of the type of position).

· The distribution of class sizes in each study programme.

· The ratio between different types of staff with teaching obligations.

The model does not calculate the teaching load for the individual teacher as a function of the number of students admitted. On the contrary, it is the idea to calculate the number of teachers needed on the basis of the number of students admitted.

The model only covers the teaching, which has not been licensed to CBS and RUC.

In the table below, we list the number of employees with teaching obligations that are required according to the normative model using the actual numbers of students admitted (see 5.5).

2000

2001

2002

2003

Prof. and assoc. prof.

Assistant professors

Amanuenses

PhD students

External lecturers

Instructors

Number of staff with teaching obligations according to the STÅ-model

In the table below, we list the number of staff with teaching obligations that were actually employed.

1999

2000

2001

2002

Prof. and assoc. prof.

Assistant professors

Amanuenses

PhD students

External lecturers

Instructors

Actual number of staff with teaching obligations (as of May 2002)

In the table below, we show the difference between the numbers in the previous tables. One sees that the hiring of full-time staff with teaching obligations is somewhat lower than the model indicates as desirable, whereas the hiring of part-time teachers by far exceeds what was considered desirable in the model. Hiring full-time staff with teaching obligations is difficult because the number of qualified applicants is generally low. We find it crucial for the long-term success of the IT-C that all full-time staff are of high quality, even if that means that we have to employ more part-time teachers at this stage.

2000

2001

2002

Prof. and assoc. prof.

Assistant professors

Amanuenses

PhD students

External lecturers

Instructors (as of 1 May)

-2

-4

-18

-9

-2

-3

-16

-13

Difference between the STÅ-model and the actual number of staff with teaching obligations

4.7 Management

At the IT-C, the leaders are appointed: The Interim Board of Directors appoints the Director who in turn appoints the Heads of Departments. Together, the Heads of Departments and the Director constitute the Management Team. All Heads of Departments have followed management training courses. In addition, the Heads of Departments have been on a two-day team-building course.

The types of work conducted by staff can roughly be divided into research, teaching and administration. The Management Team engages in leading all three types of work.

Since 2000, the formulation and implementation of strategy has been a main focus of the Management Team. The implementation of the strategy has been supported by different tools, which have been developed along the way:

· Student evaluation of teaching and teachers: we have implemented an Internet-based course evaluation system. Twice a year, students assess courses, teachers and the IT-C in general. Teachers and Management comment on the results and both results and teachers' comments are published on the Internet (except personal data concerning individual teachers, which are only available to those who are assessed and their superiors). The system has become an effective tool for making visible what students think of the teaching (see 5.4 for a summary of results).

· The STÅ-model is used for calculating productivity targets of teaching staff (see 4.6.2). The model is used when calculating the number of courses, which can be manned according to the teaching resources available. It is also used in the assignment of teachers to courses.

· All financial targets are monitored using standard accounting software (Navision).

· The goals of the development contract [7] are systematically tracked and achieved.

· The goals of the research department's goal documents [3, 4, 5, 6] are systematically tracked and achieved (see 6.4)[11].

We choose the organisation that best suits the strategy, as opposed to choosing the strategy that is the most convenient for the organisation. For example, we have chosen to make research departments temporary. This is done not because it is convenient (it is not), but because it is a way of introducing dynamics into the research agenda.

Employment of all types of staff involves interviews[12]. Personnel development talks are conducted once a year. A personnel development talk is a conversation between the employee and his or her immediate superior. The topic of the conversation, which typically lasts around an hour, is a review of goals and results of the year that has passed, status of motivation and plans for the year to come.

4.8 Liaison Committee

In accordance with Danish law and tradition, the IT-C has established a liaison committee, which consists of an equal number of representatives from management (the Director and Heads of Departments) and the employees’ organisations. The committee is responsible for exchanging information between management and employees and for discussing aspects regarding the personnel policies, means for ensuring a high degree of job satisfaction, general working conditions, safety aspects etc.

For the last 18 months, the committee has met approx. every six weeks and has primarily been working on the establishment of an overall set of guidelines for the policies on personnel issues and the establishment of procedures for the annual payment negotiations. It has hosted debates on strategy and visions for the IT-C, discussions of general “values we live by” etc.

After some uncertainties on how to run the committee in the beginning, we have now managed to establish a well-functioning forum (including four representatives from each side) in which ideas, opinions and problems are debated in an open-minded and constructive manner to the benefit of both management and staff.

4.9 Conclusion

Initially, CBS provided extensive administrative services for the IT-C, notably in the administration of finance and personnel. The IT-C built its own IT infrastructure and student administration from the outset. Gradually, the IT-C has taken over all the central administrative functions so that, at present, the only administrative connection between the IT-C and CBS is that the IT-C uses the HSAS system for part of its student administration. During this process, a number of problems and uncertainties have of course appeared but through systematic work with our organisation and management, we have managed to solve these continuously.

We believe that we have successfully created an efficient and highly competent administration within the areas that are needed at a university. The administration has shown that it can handle fairly complex business processes, e.g. the introduction of a new financial IT system, quickly and competently. The IT Department runs a large network with hundreds of computers, several operating systems and architectures and services more than 1,000 students and staff. The Student Administration handles admission, guidance, examination and graduation of students and has the necessary knowledge of government rules and regulations to do so in a competent manner. The Finance Department handles all financial processes including budgeting, extraction of financial statements at regular intervals and accounting. The IT-C has shown great restraint in its spending, in fact to the point where the government decided to take back 4 mio. DKK from the 2001 grants. The Personnel Department is fluent in the many rules and regulations that regulate employment of university staff and handles all personnel matters with competence and efficiency. The Facility Management handles all practical matters from buildings to booking of meeting rooms with great service and speed.

Finally, great emphasis has been placed on attempting to develop a management style, which unites administrative and scientific staff in the pursuit of common goals. This makes obvious sense not just to the IT-C itself but also to the stakeholders of the IT-C. It has required getting researchers involved in the formulation of research strategy and goals - a process that the Heads of the Research Departments and the staff in their departments have treated with the care and interest it deserves.

5 Education

The following chapter depicts the various aspects of education at the IT-C. Briefly, it introduces the degrees and courses offered at the IT-C. Also, statistics on student satisfaction and how graduates from the IT-C fare is provided. Finally, the IT-C’s cooperation with other universities is described.

5.1 Degrees Offered

The IT-C offers the following degrees in information technology:

Master of Science in Information Technology

The Master of Science (MSc) degree in Information Technology is awarded on successful completion of a two-year full-time study programme (120 ECTS points) for students with a bachelor degree or an equivalent qualification.

Students must complete course and project activities to an extent of 90 ECTS points and a thesis of 30 ECTS points. The thesis must include research. Typically, MSc students in each of the first three semesters complete three 7.5-ECTS point courses and one 7.5-ECTS point project and spend the fourth and last semester working on their 30-ECTS point thesis.

The students enrol in one of the following six study programmes:

o Design, Communication and Media

o Electronic Business

o Interdisciplinary IT

o Internet Technology

o Multimedia Technology

o Software Development

Internet Technology and Multimedia Technology are offered as international MSc programmes and are taught exclusively in English.

Master of Information Technology

The Master of Information Technology programme is a three-year part-time study programme (90 ECTS points) for adults in employment who want continuing and advanced education. In order to be admitted the student must have completed a bachelor or an equivalent programme and have at least two years of occupational experience.

Students have to complete course and project activities to an extent of 75 ECTS points and a final project of 15 ECTS points. Typically, Master students in the first five semesters complete two 7.5-ECTS point courses (or one course and one 7.5- ECTS point project) and spend the sixth and last semester working on their 15-ECTS point final project.

The students enrol in one of the following four Master programmes:

o Design, Communication and Media

o Internet Technology

o Multimedia Technology

o Software Development

Diploma in Information Technology

The Diploma programme in Information Technology is a two-year part-time study programme (60 ECTS points) for adults in employment who want continuing and advanced education. In order to be admitted, the student must have completed a short (two-year) further education programme and have at least two years of occupational experience.

Students have to complete course and project activities to a total extent of 45 ECTS points and a final project of 15 ECTS points.

Typically, Diploma students in each of the first three semesters complete two 7.5-ECTS point courses (or one course and one 7.5-ECTS point project) and spend the fourth and last semester working on their 15-ECTS point final project.

The MSc, Master and Diploma programmes of the IT-C are regulated by Ministry of Education orders.

Besides the programmes mentioned above, the IT-C offers single-subject courses to students who are studying for their MSc degrees at other higher education institutions and to adults in employment, provided that courses are not already filled up.

5.2 The IT-C Triangle

At the IT-C we organise teaching according to the triangle shown below. The triangle depicts the multi-disciplinary nature of IT by emphasizing three different viewpoints on IT, shown as the corners in the triangle.

The IT-C triangle

One viewpoint on IT is the one based on the science corner: computer science, mathematics and logic, physics, engineering etc. The IT-C should therefore attract bachelors from those fields.

Another viewpoint on IT is the one based on the arts, both fine arts and liberal arts. The IT-C should therefore attract bachelors from, for example, architecture, philosophy, design schools, language studies, psychology and media science.

Finally, we have chosen to take “Business” as a viewpoint on IT. The idea is that information technology is very different from most other advanced technologies in that, at least when we are talking about software, the distance between knowledge and product is often short. Moreover, almost all business (also business which is not about creating IT-products) has to use IT in ways that interact strongly with business processes.

The business use of IT is as much a driving force of change in the technology as the forces that come from the Science or the Arts corners. Therefore, Business gets a corner of its own.

Master of Science in IT (cand.it)

The Master of Science programmes are placed differently in the triangle as seen in the figure above. Each programme slants toward one corner, so that it will attract students of a particular type of background. But the programmes overlap so that students get a sense of the multidisciplinary nature of the field.

5.2.1 The Structure of the MSc, Master and Diploma Programmes

Every semester (spring and autumn) at the IT-C consists of a twelve-week course period during which the students take one to three courses, a four-week project period during which the students work in groups on a project and a four-week examination period during which both course examinations and project examinations take place.

Students choose courses for the course period among approx. 100 various courses, and they participate actively in defining project themes for the project period together with their project supervisors. Many projects involve cooperation with companies or other institutions.

Every study programme requires that students complete courses or projects of a certain amount of ECTS points within the main fields of the study programme. Apart from these basic requirements, students can choose freely from among all other courses or projects, provided that they do not choose courses of too identical contents. All study programmes encourage students to take courses from other study programmes or form project groups with students from other study programmes.

All courses and projects are concluded by an examination.[13] Examinations are conducted by the teacher and an examiner - in most cases an external examiner. Marks are awarded according to the Danish 13-point marking scale,[14] which is defined by the Ministry of Education. Apart from the 13-point scale, the assessment of pass/fail may also be used.

The contents and structure of the MSc, Master and Diploma programmes of the IT-C are described in curricula, which are defined by the board of studies.

Theses and Final Projects

Appendix A shows a complete list of theses (MSc programmes) and final projects (Master and Diploma programmes) written by students of the IT-C.

The Aim of the Programmes

The duration and admission requirements of the MSc, Master and Diploma programmes are described in 5.1; here we concentrate on the aims of each of them.

The aim of the programmes is - on a scientific basis and in the light of the preceding levels - to qualify the students to conceptualise and solve complex IT problems. In addition to technological skills, students must acquire an understanding of the technology in itself as well as of its principles and methods. Within the scope of the programmes, students must be able to qualify for further PhD studies as well as for occupational employment within information technology.

In continuation of the above, each of the six programmes endeavours strives to meet the aims indicated below:

Design, Communication and Media

Students must be able to apply scientific theories and methods for design, communication, and media in relation to information technology. It is stressed that students acquire analytical as well as construction skills, and that they develop an aesthetic stance on IT based communication.

Electronic Business

Students must be able to apply scientific theories and methods from the technical, business, and legal/policy disciplines in order to develop and maintain e-business solutions.

Internet Technology

Students must be able to apply and develop scientific theories and methods in order to develop efficient and secure distributed and mobile IT systems for the Internet.

Multimedia Technology

Students must be able to apply scientific theories and methods in order to develop and maintain systems for computer based analysis, processing, and presentation of digital representations of sensory stimuli like sound, images etc.

Software Development

Students must master scientific principles and methods of software development in order to work with practical problems on a scientific basis. They must be able to keep up with the ever-evolving technological basis, and take an active part in technology transfer and innovation of software.

Interdisciplinary IT

Students must be able to apply scientific theories and methods in order to develop and maintain IT systems especially within subject-areas studied at the preceding bachelor degree level.

The Master of Information Technology programme is designed for students who participate in the workforce. The aim is that students acquire familiarity with the scientific results on which information technology is based. In addition, they must be able to combine this with experience in up-to-date techniques and methods oriented towards commercial application. Within the scope of the programmes, students must be able to qualify for further PhD studies as well as for occupational employment within information technology.

The Diploma programme is also aimed at students who participate in the workforce. The aim is that students acquire knowledge of IT problems that enable them to apply and evaluate essential theories and methods for the development and evaluation of IT applications.

5.2.2 IT-Supported Education

In all non-net-based courses, IT-supported education is carried out. IT-supported education is possible, because all 1200 students have been given an e-mail address, their own homepage and access to the IT-C Intranet, and because each of the 100 courses at the IT-C has a user group, mailing-list for the students and its own homepage, which as a minimum has information on course schedules plus names and e-mails of the teacher and the students. Some of the courses also have a lecture list, exercises, copies of overheads used, syllabus, supplementary references and educational material, papers, hints, links and web-based course-related resources.

5.2.3 The Course Database

The course database [15] contains descriptions of all courses that have been offered at the IT-C since spring 2000. Each course belongs under one of the study programmes within the Master of Science in Information Technology or Open University area (see 5.2.4). Even though a course is controlled by one study programme or Open University, it may still be relevant for students attending other study programmes. Each course in the course database is therefore designated as being of special relevance for one or more study programmes. This helps students to choose courses that meet the demands on the composition of courses within each study programme. In Appendix B, you will find a list of all the courses that are offered in the autumn semester in 2002 grouped according to the controlling study programme within the Master of Science in Information Technology or Open University field.

In Appendix C, you will find links to five different courses at the IT-C.

5.2.4 Open University

Flexible Education

At the IT-C, students can attend flexible education outside normal working hours (afternoons, evenings, during weekends and as net-based education). Each semester, the IT-C is increasing the number of flexible courses, which are primarily aimed at people engaged in active employment. Flexible courses make it possible for people with full-time employment to engage in further education outside working hours. ‘Long opening hours and distance education’ are mentioned as qualities for Open University at the IT-C in the report [1, page 33].

The first flexible courses were launched during winter 2001. Each semester the number of flexible courses has increased as seen in the table below. In the autumn semester 2002, almost a quarter of all courses at the IT-C will be flexible. The goal is that a quarter of the courses at the IT-C are to be flexible by the end of 2003.

	S2001*	A2001**	S2002	A2002
Number of flexible courses	3	8	16	22
Number of students enrolled in flexible courses	100	250	400	not known yet

Flexible education – number of flexible courses and students enrolled, *S2001=spring 2001, **A2001=autumn 2001

In the spring semester 2002, 50% of the students (200) enrolled in flexible courses were Diploma, Master and Single Subject students, and the other 50% of the students were Master of Science students and students from other universities (guest students). The course evaluation carried out during the spring semester 2002 shows that the enrolled students are very aware of and satisfied with the increased number of flexible courses.

Net-based Education

A number of the flexible courses are conducted as net-based education where students meet with the teacher at a seminar once a month while most of the study is net-based with students studying at home or at work.

The first net-based course, Introductory Programming, was launched in the spring semester 2001, and the number of net-based courses has increased each semester, as seen in the table below. The net-based courses include courses in databases, IT strategy, graphic design, design of multimedia, programming and target group analysis.

	S2001*	A2001**	S2002	A2002
Number of net-based courses	1	3	5	6
Number of students enrolled in flexible courses	40	100	150	not enrolled yet

Net-based education – number of net-based courses and students enrolled, *S2001=spring 2001, **A2001=autumn 2001

In the spring semester 2002, 85 out of 150 students in net-based courses were Diploma, Master and single-subject students.

Quality of Net-based Education

The concept of net-based education at the IT-C builds on Danish and international experience with experiments from research in net-based education. For the past six years, a number of experiments with net-based education have been carried out in Denmark. Among these are about 100 CTU[16]-supported experiments, which are pointing to characteristics and parameters of quality of Danish net-based education, the Danish Model of Net-based Education, which creates the basis and standard of values for net-based education at the IT-C:

· Net-based education is a mix of net-based education and physical seminars at the IT-C.

· Net-based education is based on collaborative, debate-based learning principles with electronic fora of communication and dialogue among students and among students and the teacher for reflection, learning and knowledge building.

· Socialisation as a condition for learning – a real challenge in the virtual space. Net-based education includes totally new possibilities, e.g. when students are publishing their homework and teachers their comments to the homework on the Internet. This way all students can study what is being published and learn from it. Students report that it is a great learning potential.

The IT-C has chosen Luvit[17] as a framework for the net-based part of net-based education. The IT-C has used the Luvit system for handling exercises, electronic diagrams etc.

Short Courses at a High Academic Level

In June 2002, the IT-C completed its first short course, Digital Administration. The course was designed for top executives in the public sector and was conducted over two afternoons and evenings. The course was based on the technologies that underlie digital administration and had a strategic aim with focus on service increase, organisation of change, increased efficiency and management of big IT-projects. Eight top executives from the municipal and the state level participated in the course.

One of the aims of Open University is to organise more such short courses at a high academic level, if IT-areas are found that are not covered by other suppliers of courses. In cooperation with the business sector, the IT-C has found that system integration, computer network and Linux are areas with uncovered demands.

Being in Contact with the Business Sector

Being in contact with the business sector is very important to the Open University. Information is given to the business sector on the homepage of the IT-C by electronic newsletters, brochures, advertisements and press releases. Twice a year, Open University invites business people and potential students to an information meeting. Apart from this, we participate in a number of meetings, seminars and conferences.

The IT-C has a direct dialogue with the business sector through its students, the Teaching Advisory Board (see 4.5) and by organised visits to big private and public companies, which have many IT employees, and thereby potential students.

5.3 Admission Procedures

Applications for enrolment in the IT-C can be handed in twice a year, and students can commence their studies either on 1 September or 1 February.

Applicants must fill in an application form, write a personal motivated application and enclose certified photocopies of all relevant documentation (e.g. diploma and/or grade transcript to document educational level, confirmation from employer for work experience etc.). International applicants for one of the international MSc study programmes, Internet Technology and Multimedia Technology, must also document English language proficiency through a TOEFL test.[18]

All applications are considered individually, and students are given points according to an objective evaluation (the applicant’s academic standard) and a subjective evaluation (e.g. the applicant’s personal motivation, general impression of the applicant etc.). Applicants are then admitted according to the points they obtain in the ranking.

The IT-C wishes to draw attention to a problem with the admission procedure, which the IT-C cannot solve by itself (it stems from national legislation, namely "adgangsbekendtgørelsen"). As a consequence of the legislation, the IT-C must admit all students that satisfy the formal entry requirements (e.g., a bachelor degree) as long as there are vacant positions at the programme in question. Moreover, a special rule (the "kandidatregel") states that applicants, who have already completed a graduate degree, can only be accepted if there are vacant positions once all those who do not have a graduate degree have been admitted. Both rules are unfortunate. As a consequence of the first rule, the IT-C has had to accept students that have passed the degrees required for admittance but who nonetheless appear to be ill-suited for the programme in question. (This is a problem if there are not enough applicants.) As a consequence of the second rule, the IT-C has been faced with the unfortunate choice of either admitting weak applicants in order to admit excellent applicants that already have a graduate degree or turning down both the weak applicants and the strong applicants that already have obtained a graduate degree.

Considering that the IT-C is a graduate school of a kind which did not exist when the above legislation was worded and considering that the IT-C is supposed to attract the best brains to graduate-level IT education, the IT-C would greatly appreciate that legislation was revised in such a way that

1. Formal entry requirements never automatically become sufficient conditions for admission

2. The IT-C is exempted from the “kandidatregel”

	*autumn 1999*		*spring 2000*		*autumn 2000*
	Enrolled	Applicants	Enrolled	Applicants	Enrolled	Applicants
Master of Science programme
Design, Communication and Media	43		35		43
Electronic Business	34		31		40
Internet Technology	0		20		20
Multimedia Technology	0		9		13
Software Development	32		30		41
Interdisciplinary IT Development	15		13		30
Total	124		138		187
Master programmes
Design, Communication and Media	0		5		8
Internet Technology	0		0		4
Multimedia Technology	0		0		1
Software Engineering	21		4		8
Total	21		9		21
Diploma programme	0		16		0
Total	145	199	163	210	208	419

	*spring 2001*		*autumn 2001*		*spring 2002*		autumn 2002*
	Enrolled	Applicants	Enrolled	Applicants	Enrolled	Applicants	Enrolled	Applicants
Master of Science programme
Design, Communication and Media	39		32	179	48	86	60	101
Electronic Business	34		40	48	26	29	36	36
Internet Technology	17		12	18	13	18	29	29
Multimedia Technology	14		24	26	26	39	59	93
Software Development	39		41	47	41	44	61	74
Interdisciplinary IT Development	21		22	17	11	9	14	16
Total	164	234	171	335	165	225	259	349
Master programmes
Design, Communication and Media	6		6	14	9	11	10	10
Internet Technology	1		5	6	4	6	6	7
Multimedia Technology	1		0	0	0	0	2	4
Software Engineering	5		8	9	8	13	18	19
Total	13	25