Despite the increase of students and the shortage of money and staff, the eight academic computer science programs generally perform reasonably well. That is the conclusion of a visitation committee.
After two decades, academic Computer Science has finally matured. If the program wants to develop any further, it must detach itself from the broad science faculty. Computer Science at the UT, which got the highest rating in the country, has done this.
Such is the most important conclusion of the committee led by Gregor Engels. It bases this assertion partially on the high average scores of programs with autonomous position, such as the UT (and in a lesser degree the TU/e and the UU). Engels and his associates will not go so far as to recommend the situation in Twente, where there is a separate Computer Science faculty. However, they do believe that every CS program should be 'as detached as possible, preferably in combination with Business Information Science and Artificial Intelligence'.
The committee was very positive about the Technical Computer Science program of the UT: they found it had excellent facilities, a solid curriculum, more than sufficient efficiency scores and a likewise quality of graduates. One marginal comment: the committee cannot figure out what the UT means with 'Technical' Computer Science. They do not think the program deviates enough from the regular Computer Science to justify the difference in names. Unless of course this comes from the excellent quality of the facilities and computer equipment.
