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Cyprus
The Singaporean Phenomenon
of the Middle East
Cyprus
is well known to the world as the Island of Love, where Aphrodite,
the Greek Goddess of Love, emerged from the deep blue sea of Paphos,
the ancient capital of the island. In the ancient times, the island,
being in the crossroads of the three oldest continents, developed
into a strategic regional center of commerce and trading, with thriving
business based mainly on shipping and the utilisation of the sea
ports, routes and channels.
 Today,
Cyprus is becoming known as the Singapore of the Middle East, with
Nicosia, the modern capital of the island, established as an international
business center providing state-of-the-art technological support
to local and international business. The thriving of the Cyprus
economy, with hundreds of offshore companies operating on the island,
could not have been made possible without the employment of state-of-the-art
Information Technology and Telecommunications and the utilisation
of electronic ports, routes and channels. The technological infrastructure
of Cyprus is effectively and efficiently supported by a plethora
of experienced and well-qualified Computer Science and Computer
Engineering scientists.
Cyprus in the
Digital Age, is following the steps of Singapore and is transforming
itself into an Information Society, with computers and telecommunication
networks turning the “tiny island” into a “microscopic
island” and connecting residents to the world global village.
Of course, as anyone would expect from people inheriting the Greek
culture and civilisation where freedom of speech and expression,
but also philosophy and democracy were born and bloomed, Cypriots
are examining ethical and philosophical dilemmas emanating from
the creation of the Information Society.
The Information
Technology industry plays a very important role in the transformation
of the Cypriot Society into a modern Information Society. Private
companies, semi-governmental organisations and governmental Information
Technology Departments are all actively engaged in major IT projects.
The Cyprus Telecommunications Company (CYTA) is a key player in
this transformation. The Government of Cyprus, participates in many
European IT projects, one such project being the Mediterranean Information
Technology Nodes that aims at interconnecting all Mediterranean
countries. International Companies such as IBM, SUN, NCR, CSC, SAP
and NetU have all large branches in Cyprus, which many times serve
as Middle-East headquarters, providing consultancy and expertise
in the area. Large Cypriot software companies are also well known
in the Middle East and are engaged in many IT projects in the area.
Educational
Institutions also play a major role in this transformation. The
University of Cyprus and other tertiary level institutions are directly
and indirectly contributing to the development of the strategy,
planning and implementation of this transformation. This is achieved
through the scientific and applied research work and scholarly publications,
the participation in many European IT related projects, the offering
of undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the area of Information
Technology and the “production” of highly educated graduates
in the subject area. These graduates, eventually become important
members of the community, building and maintaining today’s
Information Society.
The University of Cyprus is government supported and offers a variety
of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the area of Information
Technology. It offers a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science
and a specialised Master’s degree in Advanced Information Technology
with concentrations in Expert Systems and the Internet. The Department
of the Computer Science of the University has a very strong reputation
in research and competes with the best international Universities.
The language of instruction at the University of Cyprus is Greek.
Some of the
best private tertiary level institutions are also engaged in the
field. Intercollege is the largest and most reputable of these.
Its language of instruction is English and thus, attracts many international
students. It also attracts many local students who see English as
a language they have to master since Cyprus is really a European
and international centre. Intercollege is offering the following
Information Technology programs:
- BSc Computer
Science
- BSc Computer
Engineering
- BSc Business
Administration (Management Information Systems)
- BSc Multimedia
- MSc Computing
The curriculum
of these programs is based on International Standards of Computer
Science, Multimedia, Engineering and Information Systems and therefore
include the required/standard courses in the subject areas. Furthermore,
the programs are constantly updated and enriched with courses covering
emerging hardware and software so as to provide students with knowledge
of state-of-the-art technology. More specifically courses in Internet
Technology, WEB Development, E-Commerce, Multimedia Design and Development
and Java Programming are introduced into the curriculum.
The programs are supported by:
- state-of-the-art
hardware (SUN Workstations, Macintosh and Personal Computer Labs
– supporting a variety of operating systems such as UNIX,
LINUX and MS Windows)
- state-of-the-art
software (Java and Internet Development Tools, Oracle DBMS, Director,
Visual Basic and Visual C++ programming languages, etc.)
- a modern
Library, holding a large number of Computer Science, Engineering
and Multimedia books and periodicals, as well as, CD-ROM-based
and on-line databases of information
- new teaching
and learning methods utilising multimedia and Internet technology.
Most importantly,
the programs are supported by a lecturing team second to none when
compared with lecturing teams of international Universities. The
faculty members teaching on the programs hold PhD qualifications
from prestigious UK and US universities, have extensive academic
and professional experience and are engaged in scientific research,
publishing widely in international journals and presenting papers
at international conferences. Specialised courses are also offered
by many IT industry expert practitioners who supplement the scientific
academic environment and whose real life experience and expertise
are invaluable to the programs offered.
The Department
of Computer Science at Intercollege is currently engaged in various
research projects. One such project aims in developing the infrastructure
for an electronic distance-learning environment. The project is
supported by a grant from the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus.
The electronic distance-learning environment will allow students
to attend courses through the Internet. The prototype system can
be found at http://grant.intercol.edu:8900/.
Research work
is also carried out in the areas of Relational and Object-Oriented
Databases, CASE Tools, Human Computer Interfaces, Graphics, Computer
Architecture, Parallel Processing, Image Processing, Artificial
Intelligence and Neural Networks, Statistical Methods, Medical Statistics,
Multimedia and Internet Technologies.
Studying Information
Technology and Computing in Cyprus is a big challenge and a worthy
learning experience. Students are offered a wide range of programs
and subjects to choose from. Cyprus also offers students exposure
to real-life Information Technology experience. Many of their projects
will involve case studies from local IT companies. This gives the
chance to students to get involved with many of the big IT companies
in the island and participate in their projects, thus blending their
academic knowledge with industry work and experience.
Graduate students
of the Information Technology programs are quickly absorbed by industry,
following careers in programming, system analysis and design, software
engineering, project management, system administration, technical
support and management of information systems. International students
will eventually return to their countries and become key players
in the transformation of their society in the Electronic Digital
Age.
By Dr
Philippos Pouyioutas
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Intercollege
For more
information, please contact:
The Office of Admissions, Intercollege,
46 Makedonitissas Avenue, P.O.Box 24005, 1700 Nicosia – Cyprus
Tel: +357-2-841500
Fax: +357-2-352067
E-Mail: admission-nic@intercol.edu
Website: www.intercol.edu
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