The School of Informatics and Computing has tripled in size over the past seven years. The number of graduate students has also ?doubled.
The school offers bachelor’s degrees in computer science and in informatics, as well as a variety of masters and Ph.D. programs.
Associate Dean of SOIC Esfandiar Haghverdi said there are three reasons the school has seen this rapid growth.
One reason is there has been a growth in computer science programs nationally as a result of the increase in jobs demanding ?technology skills.
The informatics and computer science programs also offer a large degree of variety, Haghverdi said. The credit hours in the major are diverse, touching on programming, the social aspects of computing and societal impacts of computing.
“You cannot find that kind of variety in many other computing programs,” Haghverdi said.
Informatics majors are also required to pick a cognate, which requires 15 to 18 credit hours of an outside discipline in addition to their major classes. The school offers 32 cognate areas, including business, journalism, fine arts or an ?individualized area.
“This gives students a lot of freedom,” Haghverdi said. “They can pursue their dream while they are getting more than usual technical ?savviness.”
The third reason, Haghverdi said, is that during senior year, students are required to do an internship, thesis or capstone course. These opportunities can get students in contact with future employers and gain valuable job ?experience.
According to the SOIC 2013-14 Hiring Stats Report, 94 percent of students received employment or acceptance to grad school within six months of graduating. The average starting salary for SOIC graduates was $58,600.
“If you do everything right, you will be hired by some respectable company out of ?college,” Haghverdi said.
Jared Fiel is a sophomore pursuing an informatics ?major with a cognate in business. He said he decided to pursue informatics when he did not get into the Kelley School of Business.
Fiel said he believes this is a trend for students who did not get into the business school to switch to an informatics or computer science degree, possibly contributing to the growth in the school.
“There’s good job placement and good money,” ?Fiel said.
Looking forward, Haghverdi said the school is working on having more data science analytics programs in terms of minors, cognates and certificates.
He also said increasing diversity in the school is a priority. Through organizing talks and raising awareness of the school’s opportunities, Haghverdi said he hopes to increase the number of female students and ethnic minorities in both undergraduate majors.
“I don’t think this attention that our students are getting is a bubble that will burst at some point,” Haghverdi said. “Unless you stop collecting data and stop using computers, there is no reason why this (growth) should slow down or stop.”
