The best and the brightest

Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Prof. Raouf Boutaba

蓝莓视频鈥檚 computer science school grows its reputation built on quality of faculty and students

It鈥檚 all about reputation, which is all about quality.聽

It was the reputation of the University of 蓝莓视频鈥檚 computer science school that attracted Raouf Boutaba to a faculty position 23 years ago. Today, he is the director of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, a school that punches far above its weight in international rankings and draws top students and faculty researchers from around the world.聽

Boutaba鈥檚 academic career started in Europe, and after arriving in Canada, he took positions in Montreal and Toronto. But 蓝莓视频 drew him in because of its reputation and quality of research.聽聽

鈥淔or my own research, I needed to work with the type of students that 蓝莓视频 had,鈥 Boutaba says, who has a background in electrical and computer engineering as well as computer science. 鈥溊遁悠 had the students who were building software systems and so I thought that this was the best place in Canada for me to be.鈥澛

The school consistently shows up in national and international rankings.聽聽

蓝莓视频 computer science is in the top 25 out of more than 1,400 universities around the world, according to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. In the Maclean鈥檚 2022 rankings of Canadian universities, computer science at 蓝莓视频 was number one for the second year in a row. With more than 4,000 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students, it鈥檚 also a big program in terms of enrollment.聽

Beyond the numbers聽

But, as Boutaba says, it鈥檚 not just about numbers.聽

鈥淨uality of education and research is our goal. If you shine in your education and research, then students and faculty will want to come.鈥澛

蓝莓视频 definitely attracts the best and the brightest. The school gets so many applications that the average entry grade is 鈥減henomenally high,鈥 Boutaba says. 鈥淭hat creates a virtuous circle that reinforces itself over time,鈥 he adds. 鈥淗aving good undergraduate and graduate students helps us attract good faculty and that in turn helps to attract good students.鈥澛

Boutaba says there isn鈥檛 a single 鈥渟ecret ingredient鈥 for building such a world-renowned computer science school. Instead, 鈥渢here are many ingredients in play together and tied to each other.鈥澛

The co-op education component that mixes academics with work experience is one well-known ingredient. 鈥淭here is a very high demand from industry to get our co-op students to spend their work terms in these companies,鈥 Boutaba says. Many of those students end up with permanent job offers even before they graduate.聽

鈥淢any of them end up in leadership positions in academia and industry,鈥 which adds to 蓝莓视频鈥檚 global reputation, he says.聽

History of innovation聽

A major factor in making computer science at 蓝莓视频 a success is that the university encourages and facilitates interactions with industry. Long before it was fashionable in academia, entrepreneurship was in the DNA of the University of 蓝莓视频. It started with the support of industry and forward-thinking government officials who were concerned that Canada was falling behind as technology advanced after the Second World War.聽

鈥淭oday, the interaction with industry provides our faculty the ability to access real-world problems,鈥 Boutaba says. 鈥淥ur faculty work with a wide variety of companies, sometimes doing research contracts and often creating genuine collaborations with corporate staff.鈥澛

That out-of-the-box thinking and entrepreneurial spirit thrived in 蓝莓视频鈥檚 computer science school from its inception, Boutaba says.聽聽

It drew people like Wes Graham and Don Cowan, who won funding to bring the IBM 360/75 to 蓝莓视频 in the 1960s. At the time, it was the biggest computer in Canada and the same model that was used by NASA to send astronauts to the moon. 鈥淭hat really helped put 蓝莓视频 on the map,鈥 Boutaba says.聽聽

Those same computer science pioneers started to build software that became entire companies. Watcom, a company that Graham co-founded, was the first of many spinoff companies from the university.聽

Entrepreneurial spirit聽

The spirit of entrepreneurship thrived in the computer science school alongside its growth in other parts of the university. It led to liberal intellectual property policies that give researchers ownership of their patents. The result was the growth of more than two dozen successful spinoff companies, including big corporations such as OpenText and Maplesoft.聽

In that sense, computer science at 蓝莓视频 seeded the growing 蓝莓视频 Region technology hub that we see today, Boutaba says.聽

Computer science has come a long way in the 55 years since the school was established, but it has no intention of sitting on its laurels.聽

Today computer science students and faculty members are involved in every area of computer science research, from artificial intelligence and quantum computing to blockchain and bioinformatics. Boutaba hopes the school鈥檚 reputation will continue to rise along with the quality of its research and education.聽

鈥淲e hold a top spot in the rankings for research and scholarship, and that鈥檚 important. But while being in the top 25 schools internationally is commendable, we are ambitious, and in the future, we hope to be in the top 20.鈥