Takatsuki Campus of Kansai University
The Faculty of Informatics was established in 1994 at the Takatsuki Campus, located between Osaka and Kyoto, in response to the needs of today's highly information-oriented society. Its mission is to give students opportunities to study information from various perspectives, including information science, computer science, management science, and behavioral and communication theories. Graduates of the Informatics program will be qualified for jobs not only in the information industry but also in business, public services, education, and various other professions.
The Faculty accepts not only high
school graduates but also students transferring from other colleges, or
people from various professional fields, both domestic and
international. Its curriculum consists of seven categories: (1)
introduction to computing, (2) foundation courses in humanities, social
and natural sciences, (3) foreign languages, (4) core subjects on the
technical, human and social aspects of information, (5) specialized and
applied courses, (6) studio and laboratory courses, for programming,
simulation, graphics, and multimedia contents production, and (7)
seminars and thesis work.
The Faculty is equipped with state-of-the-art computing
facilities, and also with media studios, within which students can
learn from hands-on lessons how to produce software, graphics, and
videos. The faculty's seminars place great emphasis upon student
discussion, and analysis through case-studies.
The Faculty provides a variety of lecture and laboratory courses that are categorized into three inter-related areas of study:
| (1) | The "Social Information Systems" area deals with the effective use and management of computer-based information systems in businesses and organizations. Students take a variety of courses, such as policy formulation, organizational behavior, management information, and innovation theories, through which they gain the ability to analyze business and organizational issues from an information point of view and find effective ways to design implement and manage information systems to meet the organization's tactical and strategic needs. |
| (2) | The "Computing" area addresses the design and implementation of software systems, from small- to large-scale, from personal to organizational, and from centralized to distributed systems. It offers a variety of computer-science related courses, including computer architecture, networks, programming languages, algorithms, graphics and image processing, simulation, Web and mobile technologies, human-computer interaction, and artificial intelligence. Students gain technical, theoretical and practical understandings of information and communication technologies with particular emphasis on the symbiosis of the human and the computer. |
| (3) | The "Media and Information" area focuses on the theory and practice of media and communication technologies as well as their application in real-life settings such as home and school. Students learn to understand the issues of media and communication from linguistic, psychological, sociological, educational, social and cultural points of view. They also acquire technical skills in designing, producing, evaluating, and managing the development of interactive digital contents and services for the Internet and other media. |
