CREATING AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF MASTER DEGREES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AS A SECOND COMPETENCE

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1 CREATING AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF MASTER DEGREES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AS A SECOND COMPETENCE Sergio Luján-Mora 1, Jean-Michel Adam 2, Agathe Merceron 3, Marek Milosz 4, Arto Toppinen 5 1 University of Alicante, Department of Software and Computing Systems (SPAIN) 2 Université Pierre Mendès France, Department of Informatics and Mathematics for Social Sciences (FRANCE) 3 Beuth Hochschule fuer Technik Berlin, Department of Informatics and Media (GERMANY) 4 Lublin University of Technology, Institute of Computer Science (POLAND) 5 Savonia University of Applied Sciences (FINLAND) sergio.lujan@ua.es, jean-michel.adam@upmf-grenoble.fr, merceron@beuth-hochschule.de, marekm@cs.pollub.pl, arto.toppinen@gmail.com Abstract This paper describes the general objectives of the ERAMIS project. This project aims to set up a network of master degree programs Informatics as a Second Competence among four Russian universities, three Kazakh universities, two Kyrgyz universities and five universities of the European Union. The syllabuses of the master degree programs will be adapted to Russian, Kazakh and Kyrgyz requirements and standards. This master degree program concerns students with a bachelor s degree in Sciences (except in Informatics) or in Social and Human Sciences. The main aim is to acquire a further competence in informatics (computer science) in order to help the students to integrate the labour market with a second competence. The basic course consists of common core in informatics (systems, networks, data mining, software engineering, programming, web technologies, human-machine interaction, etc.). Due to the different profiles of the partner universities and formal requirements in different countries, the computer science syllabus should be very carefully harmonised. Keywords: international projects, university networks, syllabus reform. 1 INTRODUCTION Nowadays, organizations and enterprises demand more and more qualified employees able to apply correctly and usefully the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Specialists from all sectors need and must have additional ICT competences. Therefore, education systems all around the world must respond to this current demand. The modernization of higher education systems and their corresponding syllabuses, particularly by creating particular training to apply computer science to other disciplines, is essential to meet present professional needs. During the last few years, Russian, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz higher education systems have been reformed and are progressively evolving within the context of Bologna Process (European Higher Education Area), towards a common higher education framework. The opening of Russian, Kazakh and Kyrgyz universities has been encouraged by many international projects, notably European ones. In the beginning of 2010, the European Tempus [1] project European-Russian-Central Asian Network of Master Degrees "Informatics as a Second Competence" (ERAMIS) started to set up a network between a group of universities from Europe, Russia and Central Asia. The members of the project are: five universities from Europe (Finland, France, Germany, Poland, and Spain), four universities from Russian Federation, three universities from Kazakhstan, two universities from Kyrgyzstan, and three enterprises from Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The type of this project is curricular reform and it lasts 3 years. The main objective of this project is to create a network of master degrees in computer science as a second competence intended for specialists in social sciences, exact sciences, and engineering. The objective of the master degree is to give specialists coming from other disciplines, a training enabling them to master computer Proceedings of ICERI2011 Conference. 14th-16th November 2011, Madrid, Spain ISBN:

2 techniques and programming languages in order to create, develop, manage and maintain new software tools for their specific domains. The objective of the project is not to train pure computer scientists, but versatile persons able to combine a good knowledge in engineering, mathematics, physics, or even in economics, management, administration, with competences in computer science, allowing them to implement tomorrow's software tools in a better way and so participating to the necessary modernization of society. After near two years of life of the ERAMIS project, in this paper we will present the partners and the objectives of the project, we will describe and compare the different syllabuses that have been developed, we will highlight the problems that we have faced, and we will comment the solutions we have implemented to resolve these problems. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, all the partners of the project are presented. In Section 3, we briefly describe the main objectives of the project. In Section 4, the syllabus developed during the first year of the project is introduced. Finally, in Section 5 the main conclusions are presented. 2 LIST OF PARTNERS OF THE PROJECT The partners of the project are five universities from Europe (Finland, France, Germany, Poland, and Spain), four universities from Russian Federation, three universities from Kazakhstan, two universities from Kyrgyzstan, and three enterprises from Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. From the European Union, five universities take part in the project: Savonia University of Applied Sciences (Finland): Université Pierre Mendès-France, Social and Human Sciences Faculty (France): Beuth Hochschule fuer Technik Berlin, Department of Informatics and Media (Germany): Politechnika Lubelska (Poland): University of Alicante, Department of Software and Computing Systems (Spain): The project coordinator and holder is the Université Pierre Mendès-France (UPMF), located in Grenoble (France). UPMF is a social and human sciences university that has more than 19,000 students, of which 10% are foreign students. All the European universities share a long common experience in international cooperation within the context of ERASMUS and TEMPUS programmes from the European Union. From the Russian Federation, four universities are involved in the project: Voronezh State University: Astrakhan State University: Kazan Technical University: Saratov State Socio-Economic University: From Kazakhstan, three universities take part in the project: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University: Innovative University of Eurasia: Karaganda State Technical University: From Kyrgyzstan, two universities are involved in the project: Kyrgyz State Technical University named I.Razzakov: Kyrgyz State National University (named Balassaguin): Finally, three enterprises also collaborate in the project:

3 Sofit - Information Systems (Russia) Systemotekhnika (Kazakhstan) ISP Aknet (Kyrgyzstan) In collaboration with the enterprises of the project, the universities will collect and analyse information about local and regional employers' needs for specialists from different fields and having a second competence in computer science in order to define the region prior domains. This information will be particularly helpful to define the optional courses. 3 THE PROJECT This project is based on the good experience the Kyrgyz State National University had with the creation of the master Double Degree in Computer Science and Social Sciences, within the framework of Tempus project CD_JEP This master was designed following the example of the professional master Computer Science and Social Sciences that exists since 1985 in the University Pierre Mendès-France University [2]. The aims of this project were: To modernise the higher education in computer science in Kyrgyzstan. To increase the level of competence of computer science teachers by training Kyrgyz teachers and building a modern teaching infrastructure. To meet the European standards by Kyrgyz higher education system. The current ERAMIS project aims to set up a network of masters in Computer Science as a Second Competence between four Russian universities, three Kazakh universities, two Kyrgyz universities and five European Union universities. This master will be based on the framework of the master degree program Double Degree in Computer Science and Social Sciences, which was created within the context of Tempus III project in the Kyrgyz State National University. New syllabuses will be defined in order to adapt this master for the application of computer science to exact science and to engineering science. The master Computer Science as a Second Competence will be composed of two specific profiles: Computer Science for Human and Social Sciences and Computer Science for Exact Sciences and Engineering Sciences. The existing syllabus will be adapted to Russian and Kazakh requirements. The master will be introduced in the universities of four big industrial regions of Russia and in the universities of three important regions of Kazakhstan. These universities expressed their particular desire to set up such a training that would give the theoretical fundamental basis in computer science (algorithmic, programming, systems network architecture) and the use of modern tools which are essential in the fields of databases, information systems, multimedia technologies (Internet, Web) and of structured document processing (XML technologies). This master is principally intended for students having a bachelor level, but the master will also offer further education for persons already in working life but wishing to learn a new job or to widen the field of their competences. The objective of the master is strictly professional, it is intended to train versatile persons, combining good competences (acquired in the bachelor level) in a first discipline with theoretical and technical competences, enabling them to create, develop, and implement tomorrow's software tools in a better way. This is also a way to participate in the development of Russian and Central Asian Information Society. The high level in Computer science combined with the initial competence will help the recent graduates to find a job. A multidisciplinary career profile will enable the students to be headed for a career in the creation and the development, the adaptation or the use of software tools that meet the needs of society, economy, industry, and cultural life of the three countries involved in this project. There, the specific objectives of the project are: Disciplinary and geographical extension of the master already existing in Kyrgyz State National University (Informatics for Social Sciences as a Second Competence) to exact and applied sciences, and expansion to Russian and Kazakh Universities. Setting up of a continental network between Europe, Russia and Central Asia of master Informatics as a Second Competence. Fulfilment of the necessary conditions to set up a double diploma's master

4 Bringing together concepts of professionalization of the education of ERAMIS network partners. 4 SYLLABUS For all the master degree programs of the ERAMIS network, the common basic courses are organised into the same semester to make different master programs compatible among each other and to promote student mobility. The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), the standard for comparing the study attainment and performance of students of higher education across the European Union and other collaborating European countries, is used in the ERAMIS project. The number of ECTS allocated to a common course is the same for all the master degree programs of the network. This syllabus was developed between the European Union teachers and teachers from the beneficiary universities. All the syllabuses were fully described in English, following the common standards which were defined during the first meetings of the project. The syllabus have been checked and verified by the independent expert involved in the project. The structure of the syllabus is: 1st Semester Algorithms and Data structures (5 ECTS) Programming (6 ECTS) Computers' operating Systems (3 ECTS) Mathematics for Computer Science (3 ECTS) Databases (3 ECTS) Computer English (2 ECTS) 2nd Semester Software engineering (5 ECTS) Project Management (3 ECTS) Web Development (5 ECTS) Computer English 2 (2 ECTS) 3rd Semester Data mining and Data warehouse (4 ECTS) Human-computer Interaction (3 ECTS) Software engineering Project 1 (5 ECTS) 4th Semester Software engineering Project 2 (5 ECTS) Internship (8 weeks minimum, full-time employment) Besides, certain optional courses were defined individually by each university on their own in order to fulfil the master degree model. In addition, in order to encourage exchanges between universities of the network, 20% of the courses will be done in English language, with the help of the European partners. 5 CONCLUSIONS In this paper, the ERAMIS project has been briefly introduced. This project aims to develop Information Society by creating a European-Russian-Central Asian network of masters in Informatics as a Second Competence, between four Russian universities, three Kazakh universities, two Kyrgyz universities and five European universities. This network will permit the exchange of knowledge and experience between the partners of the project

5 All the masters of the network are planned to start in September 2011, in English and in Russian languages. Throughout the project there has been a commitment to disseminate about its development. Dissemination strategies include presenting the results and the benefits of our project in international conferences [3, 4, 5, 6]. REFERENCES [1] European Commision Education and Training Tempus. Internet: (Visited ) [2] Université Pierre Mendès France. Master Double Competence: Informatics and Social Sciences (DCISS). Internet: (Visited ) [3] Marek, M. (2010). Academic Networks: the future of Higher Education in Eurasian space. Proceedings of the International Scientific and Educational Congress Sciences of the future, Almaty, October , pp , ISBN [4] Adam, J.M., Merceron, A., Milosz, M. (2010). Using the Tuning Methodology in the TEMPUS Eramis project. Proceedings of the International Scientific and Educational Congress Sciences of the future, Almaty, October , pp , ISBN [5] Miłosz, E., Milosz, M. (2010). Polish way to the implementation of the Bologna process The case study. Proceedings of the International Scientific and Educational Congress Sciences of the future, Almaty, October , pp , ISBN [6] Marek, M., Ualsher, T. (2010). ERAMIS Tempus Project the Way to Building the European Russian Central Asian Academic Network. Proceedings of the International conference Current State and Future Perspectives on Higher Education in Kazakhstan The Impact of the Tempus Program, September 2010, pp , ISBN