LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Quality standards and practices in the field of ICT

higher education followed by Sofia University

Roumen Nikolov, Sofia University

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Contentso Some words for Sofia University

o ICT related projects

o ICT Standards – ACM/IEEE computing curricula

o ICT Standards - ICT & Law

o ICT Education – European Perspective

o ICT & Quality of Education

o ICT Education Dynamics

o eLearning as a Meta-industry

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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SU - Educational and Scientific Centre of the Country Over 35,000 students

80 Bachelor’s and over 200 Master’s degree programmes

Over 3000 teachers and researchers

Very important role for the development of the country

Challenges: economic and social changes, new models of education, new role of universities, brain drain

European Space of Higher Education

Sofia University – to become a National and Regional Centre of High-Technologies, Innovations and Entrepreneurship

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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ICT related projects10 projects from Sixth Framework RTD Programme15 projects from Fifth Framework RTD Programme7 projects from Fourth Framework RTD Programme (INCO COPERNICUS)Many other national and international eLearning related projects - Internal at Sofia University, Ministry of Education and Science, EC (PHARE, Socrates - Minerva, Leonardo, Comenius), World Bank, Industrial, Bilateral with other Universities, etc.

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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6FP NoE Project KALEIDOSCOPE “Concepts and methods for exploring the future of learning with digital technologies”, 6FP IP Project TENCOMPETENCIES: Building The European Network for Lifelong Competence Development6FP STREP Project UNITE: Unified eLearning Environment for the School FP6-2004-IST-NMP-2 PRIME “Providing Real Integration in Multi-disciplinary Environments”6FP SSA Science.and.Society.7 Project PARCEL “Participatory Communication Activities on E.Learning” FP6 SSA 016020 ATVN-EU-GP “Academic Internet Television Showcases the Best of Good Practice Activities”6FP IP Project GUIDE “Creating an European Identity Management Architecture for eGovernment”, http://www.guide-project.org 6FP BulRMCNet “Bulgarian Network of Research Mobility Centres”6FP Project E4: Extended Enterprise Management in Enlarged EuropeFP6 MOBILITY-2004-SSA REKS “Researchers in European Knowledge Society”

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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5FP IST-2002-5.1.15 (2002-2005) MECITV Project: “Media Collaboration for Interactive TV” 5 FP IST Project "DIOGENE: A Training Web Broker for ICT Professionals" - http://www.diogene.org/5 FP 2001/C 321/17 (2002-2005) GEM-Europe Project: “Global Education in Manufacturing”5 FP IST Project "WebLabs: new representational infrastructures for learning", http://www.weblabs.eu.com5 FP IST-1999-20852 (2000-2002) "Best Practice Pilot for the Promotion and Implementation of Teleworking Tools at European SMEs of the Service Sector (PROTELEUSES)" 5FP Innovation and SMEs IPS-2001-41103 PROMOTOR+ Project: “Collaborative Validation and Transfer of Regional Support Measures for Start-ups and Growth in Five NACs Regions“5FP IPS-2000-056 (2001-2003) EIM – CEE Project: “Euro Innovation Manager – Central and Eastern Europe”

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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5 FP IST-1999-21148 (2000-2002) "Best Practice Pilot for the implementation of Integrated Internet Based Remote Working Places for Virtual Teams developing their work at SMEs (IWOP)" 5 FP IST-1999-12646 (2000-2002) "A Picture of Social Observation of Call Centre (TOSCA)" - http://www-it.fmi.uni-sofia.bg/tosca/5 FP IST-2001-32790 (2001-2002) WG-ECUA+: European COTS Working Group Extension - http://www.esi.es/ecua/5 FP IST-2001-34488 (2002- 2004) EXPERT Project: “Best Practice on E-project Development Methods” 5 FP IST-2001-37460 COCONET “Context Aware Collaborative Environments for Next Generation Business Networks” 5FP IST Project EUNITE - EUropean Network on Intelligent TEchnologies for Smart Adaptive Systems - http://www.eunite.org/5 FP IPS-1999-950097 (2001-2002) INNOCONS: Increasing The Awareness On Innovation In The European Construction Sector - http://www.innocons.org5FP IST-02-8-1B (2002-2003) AFORO Project: “Agro-Food Roadmaps. A vision and work plan to implement future RTD trends for the transformation of agri-food industries into digital companies” 5 FP Innovation and SMEs Thematic Networks, BIGEAR NET Thematic Network on Stimulation of Business Innovation and Growth from Exploitation of Academic Research"

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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ICT Standards – ACM/IEEE Computing Curricula 2005 (CC2005)

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Implementing ACM/IEEE CC2001/CC2005 at

Sofia University Computer Science  Software Engineering Information Systems BSc, MSc & PhD

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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• Designing and reasoning about algorithms• Development of new software technologies•Design of programming languages

• Business value of information technology• Strategic use of information technology• Business processes• Evaluation of emerging information technologies

• Hardware-software interfaces• Software methodologies, standards and metrics•Software performance, security and safety

• Database design• Info storage and retrieval•Artificial intelligence• Intelligent decision systems

• Programming environments and tools• Operating system design

• Software specifications and design• Project management•Documentation•Human-computer interaction

• Programming• Databases• Networks• Hardware concepts• Legal and ethical issues

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Social and Professional Issues (SP)Professionalism, ethics, and law courses. These courses are one semester long and expose students to issues of professional practice, ethical behavior, and computer law. Topics included may be history of computing, impact of computers on society, computing careers, legal and ethical responsibilities, and the computing profession.

SP1. History of computing [core]SP2. Social context of computing [core]SP3. Methods and tools of analysis [core]SP4. Professional and ethical responsibilities [core]SP5. Risks and liabilities of computer-based systems [core]SP6. Intellectual property [core]SP7. Privacy and civil liberties [core]SP8. Computer crime [elective]SP9. Economic issues in computing [elective]SP10. Philosophical frameworks [elective]

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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MSc Programs

Artificial IntelligenceComputational Science and EngineeringeBusiness and eGovernmenteLearningMedical InformaticsInformation SystemsMathematical ModellingMathematical Modelling in EconomicsMobile Technologies and Distributed SystemsProbability & StatisticsSoftware EngineeringInformation SecurityComputer GraphicsMechatronics and Robotics

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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European Perspective: E-Skills Summit, Kopenhagen, 17-18.10.2003

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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E-Skills Summit Industry Consortium & 25 Pilot Universities

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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E-Skills Summit: Documents & Guidelines

Curriculum Development Guidelines New ICT curricula for the 21st century: designing tomorrow’s educationDetermining the future demand for ICT skills in EuropeICT Job ProfilesEtc.

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Accreditation and Computing CurriculaAcademic accreditation is a process that is used to support improvement of institutions and their degree programs, to demonstrate that a degree program meets certain external requirements, and to increase the level of confidence the public has in them.Discipline-specific accreditation provides two important benefits for programs and for the institutions in which they reside.

1) It certifies that a degree program meets minimum quality standards established by independent professional or scientific societies or by government agencies. This helps an institution market its programs, and it gives the public and prospective students reason to be confident in a particular degree program’s quality.2) The program receives an onsite consultation by a visiting team that provides an expert opinion about a program’s strengths and weaknesses and about its specific needs for improvement. This interaction helps an institution have full understanding of how its programs are performing and what must be done to improve their quality.

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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The need of new ICT programs

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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ICT Curricula DynamicsExamples from SU experience:

CISCO Academic InitiativeIT Management Curricula (Stevens Institute of Technology MSIS Program)Intel Multicore Curricula

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Regional Cisco Academy

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Chronology 2000: established Regional Cisco Academy at Sofia University2000-2001: certified 8 CCAI2001: started teaching CCNA1-42002: started teaching IT1&2,Fundamentals of Java, Fundamentals of Unix2003: started teaching CCNP2005: started teaching Wireless LAN & Network Security courses

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Cisco courses integrated in University curriculumFaculty of Mathematics & Informatics

BSc Computer Science - CCNA1 (since 2001/2002)MSc Distributed Systems & Mobile technologies

CCNA1-4 (since 2004/2005)Wireless LANs (since 2004/2005)IT Essentials 2 (since 2004/2005)Network Security (since 2005/2006)

MSc Information SystemsCCNA1 (since 2003/2004)Fundamentals of Unix (since 2003/2004)

Faculty of Economics & Business MSc Management Information Systems

CCNA1 (since 2003/2004)Fundamentals of Unix (since 2003/2004)

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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StevensMSIS Program- http://www-it.fmi.uni-sofia.bg/msis/Importing IT Management Competence at Sofia University

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Become a Leader in Information Technology

Management

We have what you need!

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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Intel Multi-core Curriculum Program Sofia University joins the Top Tier University Club

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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The eLearning Industry Group, eLIG, http://www.elig.org/:“eLearning has the potential to become a key engine in driving growth and creating more and better jobs in Europe.”

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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eLearning as a Meta-IndustryMaster of Science Programon e-Learning

http://www.fmi.uni-sofia.bg/education/magisters/ Objectives:

The aim of the Program is to prepare specialists able to design and develop high quality e-learning solutions for education and training.

Graduates of the Program will be able to design fully functional and market-oriented e-learning programs at different levels.

LEFIS Workgroup 5th Meeting, Sofia 2-3 June 2006

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For whom is the MSc Program in e-learning intended?

The Program is particularly useful for:

university and high school teachers who want to go beyond the boundaries of the traditional education and extend their teaching with e-learning elementstraining specialists in companies, governmental or non-governmental organizationsmanagers at different levels in educational and training institutionsany individual, wanting to build life long learning skills

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CoursesThe Program includes six core courses, which build a background in the main aspects of e-learning, and a set of elective courses, intended to deepen the knowledge and expertise of the students in one of the three dimensions - pedagogical, technological and organization/management.

The Program concludes with development and defense of a master’s thesis.

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Thank you for your attention!