History of the Faculty of Informatics

Facoltà di scienze informatiche foto storica
Facoltà di scienze informatiche foto storica
Facoltà di scienze informatiche foto storica
Facoltà di scienze informatiche foto storica

Established in 2004, the Faculty of Informatics is the fourth Faculty at USI. Its aim is to address the challenges of an evolving digital society, through an educational and research programme where information technology is considered more than just computers, rather, a new universal language, and a new way for people to associate with reality.

Inaugurated by former USI President Marco Baggiolini it stood out from the beginning for its innovative study curricula, which focuses on workshops where students turn theory into practice, and interact directly with faculty members.

This unique approach is in line with a teaching philosophy based on four principles (theory, technology, systemic thinking, communication, and teamwork) and is part of the Faculty's mission. It is fueled by the profound dedication to the beauty of computer science and it earned Mehdi Jazayeri, first Faculty Dean, the two most important awards in the field: the ACM SIGSOFT Influential Educator Award in 2012, and the IEEE CS TCSE Distinguished Educator Award in 2013.

"Together with our first colleagues, Alexander Wolf, Antonio Carzaniga, Michele Lanza, Amy Murphy and Fernando Pedone, we had in mind to radically innovate the very way computer science is taught. We felt it was important to respond in a new and better way to the needs of the job market. We wanted to highlight the beauty and elegance of the discipline with the aim of attracting new generations of students.”

Mehdi Jazayeri, the first Dean of the Faculty of Informatics

Since 2004, the Faculty of Informatics has earned more than 70 million francs in competitive research, boasts more than 70,000 citations in the literature according to Google Scholar, has come to attract students and researchers from over 50 different countries, and constantly looks to the next challenges, while keeping true to its core values: passion, quality, collegiality