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The School of IT and Electrical Engineering has some of the best IT programs in Australia.
Our focus is on understanding: we teach principles – why you do things, not just how.
An IT degree from UQ sets you up for life, because it teaches you how to learn. Other degrees may get you your first job, but we aim to equip you for your move up the ladder.
It does not help you a lot if you only know the current popular tools in industry: you also need to learn how to pick up new skills for yourself. The programming language which is popular when you start may be obsolete by the time you graduate.
What’s Different about IT at UQ?
The UQ Edge
The University of Queensland is one of the top three universities in Australia on most research measures. That means you have access to top academics in any field in which you may choose to study: academics who know a lot more than what you can read for yourself in a book. Your lecturer in many cases will be someone who is creating new knowledge in their field. Not only for IT courses, but if you choose to take a dual degree (or possibly just to take a few courses in other subjects), you have a wide range of world-class options to choose from.
UQ is the leading research university in Queensland by a large margin, with almost double the research funding of all the other Queensland universities combined (2003 ARC funding round). UQ also was the top university country-wide for industry-linked research grants in the last round of ARC announcements for Linkage grants in 2003 (funding for 2004). UQ’s high research standing is not at the expense of industry contacts: we aim to excel at both.
The ITEE Edge
The School of IT and Electrical Engineering, by combining engineering with IT in one School, allows you to pick up a flavour of doing engineering in the IT degree. Many courses you do are also done in one or more of our engineering programs, yet you have the greater flexibility of an IT degree, where the content is less dictated by the traditional structure of an engineering degree. On the other hand, the overlap between our IT degree and our engineering degrees allows you the flexibility to change, if you should decide you’d prefer an engineering degree.
Let’s look at what is unique about UQ ITEE’s BInfTech degree.
Project Focus
Starting from year 1, when you do a course in common with the engineering students, Introduction to Professional Engineering, you learn about working in teams. Each year, there is a project-based course, ending in year 3, where you have a choice between an internal project, or being placed in a real-world project in industry. Our project courses are designed to give you a taste of working on a large-scale real-world problem, but under the controlled conditions of an academic course. Each year, we consult an Industry Advisory Board, to make sure the project course – and our curriculum as a whole – is in line with industry practice.
Relation to Engineering
Our IT degree, with its strong overlaps with our engineering degrees, has a strong aspect of professionalism, and understanding how large-scale systems are put together. The IT degree allows a lot of flexibility to choose courses ordinarily only available in an engineering degree, so you have the flexibility to mix and match from areas as diverse as software development, mathematical aspects of computing, hardware-oriented courses and networks.
Information Systems
UQ ITEE has one of the strongest Information Systems programs in the Australia, with world-class academics in a variety of database-related areas. Designing and managing large-scale databases is a key requirement for efficient operation of many businesses and other organizations. Combine an IT degree specialized in IS with a business degree, and you will have a world-class qualification that will open may doors.
Research
Our strong research programs not only mean that lecturers can place you ahead of the current state of industry practice, but we have great opportunities for you to study further, including our Honours year, which offers an introduction to advanced research. Attending university with a strong research focus, even if you stop after your first degree, gives you the kind of insight which could lead you to being a pioneer in a new field like bioinformatics.