Cyprus The Singaporean Phenomenon

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 ScienceBSc Computer EngineeringBSc Business Administration (Management Information Systems)BSc MultimediaMSc ComputingThe 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 informationnew 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 PouyioutasAssociate Professor of Computer ScienceIntercollegeFor more information, please contact:The Office of Admissions, Intercollege,46 Makedonitissas Avenue, P.O.Box 24005, 1700 Nicosia – CyprusTel: +357-2-841500Fax: +357-2-352067E-Mail: admission-nic@intercol.eduWebsite: www.intercol.edu