At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.

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Ghent University's Education Objectives

Quality Assurance at Ghent University

1. A computer scientist graduate masters the interplay between theoretical knowledge and practical skills from the eighteen different knowledge domains in computer science: algorithms and complexity, computer architecture and computer organization, computational sciences, discrete structures, computer graphics and data visualization, human-machine interaction, information security, information management, intelligent systems, networks and communications, operating systems, platform-specific software development, parallel and distributed computing, programming languages, fundamentals of software development, software engineering, computer systems, societal aspects and professionalism.
2. Our students are not afraid to look at systems from different programming languages, paradigms and technologies at multiple levels of detail and abstraction. They learn to seek software solutions for challenging and authentic problems. They have a holistic view of the structure of software systems and appreciate the processes involved in their construction and analysis.
3. By means of practical and varied projects, our students learn to make designs, and to assess and improve in terms of functionality, user-friendliness and performance.
4. Our students are willing to undertake lifelong learning in a rapidly evolving technical and scientific discipline. They are aware of the social, legal, ethical and cultural responsibilities inherent in computer sciences.
5. Our students must have the necessary theoretical insights, the ability to create abstractions, and the creativity to recognize the limits of computer science, in order to help design and develop the discipline for the future.

1. A five-year focus on computer science: from the first year onwards, our curriculum focuses entirely on the software aspects of computer science. We have built our curriculum on a strong vision, and on the knowledge domains as identified in the text issued by the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers entitled Computer Science Curricula.
2. Motivated and multidisciplinary teaching team: our study programme boasts enthusiastic and committed lecturers from various research disciplines. As a multidisciplinary team we are able to offer a wide range of (elective) course units. Many of our lecturers are actively involved in education innovation.
3. Room for a project-based approach and practical experience:our students actively work together on larger projects on several course units. In the context of the mandatory company work placement, students are given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the (international) professional field. For the purpose of the Master’s dissertation, collaboration with companies is a possibility.
4. Feedback: our study programme strongly focuses on systems that enable automatic feedback, and on intense interim feedback for projects, Master’s dissertations and work placements. The low-threshold student-lecturer contact, and the various student surveys also ensure that difficulties are remedied quickly.
5. Communication and social skills: a computer scientist must be able to give presentations about technical and computational problems and solutions to a diverse target audience. They must be prepared to work together efficiently as a member of a project team and be able to manage their own performance and that of others within the team, including managing time, priorities and progress.

1. Systematic communication to all stakeholders via an updated study programme website including, for example, promotion of computer science activities (programming and problem-solving) for primary and secondary school teachers and their pupils (such as CoderDojo, STEM activities, further training for teachers, Flemish Programming Competition, Bebras, etc.).
2. The growth of our student numbers is limited, as is the group diversity. This is at odds with the high demand for computer science graduates. We will examine whether this is also the case in the other Flemish Computer Science programme, and will consider how to reach prospective students better.
3. Despite our efforts, few students opt for an international experience. We examine how student mobility and international competencies can be strengthened, given the international importance of computer science.

This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.

This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.