On 9 June 2023, the Jamk's ICT Degree Programme received the international EUR-ACE Label for the second time as a result of accreditation. The aim of the accreditation carried out is for the ICT engineering degree organised by the Institute of Information Technology to support the development of education and increase its international comparability. Accreditation provides an external assessment of the quality of the study offer and whether the degree programme provides the knowledge and skills required in working life.
"EUR-ACE accreditation is a valuable recognition of the determined and high-quality work done by our staff. EUR-ACE is a widely recognised guarantee of quality, which shows that we also do well in international comparisons. For the second time, we participated in the EUR-ACE accreditation for the ICT engineering degree. We recognise the value of the process, and I believe that we will be involved in the accreditation process also in the coming years," says Tero Kokkonen, Director of the Jamk's Institute of Information Technology.
Special praise for curriculum that meets the needs of working life
Feedback praised, among other things, the study options that are strongly tied to time and the curriculum that meets the needs of working life and is made in strong business cooperation. The laboratory facilities used by the students were also defined as excellent.
"The audit process was functional and the feedback received was good. It makes it possible to identify the strengths and areas for development of the degree programme. The different stages of the accreditation process also support the staff extensively in the planning of new study plans', Kokkonen says.
"Our ICT programme has been developed to meet the needs of the working life, and we are constantly working with companies to meet these needs in the future. Well-functioning cooperation between teaching and RDI work also plays a part in this. These were also taken into account in the evaluation we received," Kokkonen says.
ICT students graduating from Jamk find employment in a wide range of positions in industry, and students get to create networks in working life-oriented projects already during their studies. With the help of personal study paths and specialisation studies, students can influence their own graduation speed and the emphasis of their studies. As specialisation studies, students can choose between cyber security and artificial intelligence, which are emphasised in this time.
"The degree programme is centrally involved in the development of the Central Finland region. The study options offered by the degree programme – programming and software development, cybersecurity, and information networks and information systems – are strongly up to date," says the chair of the accreditation group, Professor Friedrich Praus from the Vienna University of Applied Sciences, describing the key findings of the evaluation team in a press release published by FINEEC on the subject.
