Study Programmes

ABRIDGED VERSIONS OF STUDY PROGRAMMES

QUESTIONNAIRE: STUDENT EVALUATION OF STUDY PROGRAMMES

 

Heads of study programmes at the Department of Information Sciences:

Double-major undergraduate study in Information Science: Prof. Kornelija Petr Balog, PhD, Full Professor with tenure

Single-major undergraduate study in Information Science: Prof. Sanjica Faletar, PhD

Graduate study in Information Science: Assoc. Prof. Kristina Feldvari, PhD

Graduate study in Publishing: Prof. Zoran Velagić, PhD

Graduate study in Information Technology: Assoc. Prof. Tomislav Jakopec, PhD

Starting from the 2015/2016 academic year, the Department of Information Sciences at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek offers the following double-major graduate study programmes instead of the previous single-major graduate study in Information Science:

  • Double-major graduate study in Information Science
  • Double-major graduate study in Information Technology
  • Double-major graduate study in Publishing

The aim of the changes in relation to the existing single-major graduate study in Information Science is to separate the three fundamental pillars of the current programme (publishing, information science and information technology) into three separate study programmes that can be combined with one another in a double-major combination. In this way, students acquire two qualifications and receive stronger and higher-quality education in the field of information sciences. The ultimate aim of the study programme changes is to educate professionals who, by combining studies in Information Science, Publishing and Information Technology, will become information professionals capable of competently applying traditional skills for working in information environments while creating and using all the advantages of information technology, thereby becoming more competitive on the labour market. The launch of all three study programmes was supported by organisations from the labour market.

Admission to the double-major graduate study programmes in Information Science and Information Technology requires completion of an undergraduate university study programme in the field of information and communication sciences with 180 ECTS credits, or completion of an undergraduate university study programme in the social sciences or humanities with 180 ECTS credits, subject to passing bridging examinations before taking courses from the regular programme. The exact number of bridging courses depends on the candidate’s previously completed undergraduate study programme and is determined upon enrolment.

Double-major graduate study in Information Science is focused on three fundamental pillars:

  • information organisation
  • information preservation
  • information presentation and mediation

The course content within these three fundamental pillars focuses on information in the broadest sense, regardless of the type of information and its form, the institution in which the information is located, or the end-user group for whom services are provided.

The aim of the study programme is to educate professionals capable of:

– searching for and finding relevant information, regardless of the topic, in various information sources

– organising information in physical and digital environments

– preserving information so that it remains accessible and usable in the long term

– creating specific information products, services and facilities for different user groups

– visually organising and presenting information

– evaluating information and mediating it to different user groups.

Students who complete the double-major graduate study in Information Science can apply the acquired competences in all physical and online environments where there is a need to work with information and information users in the broadest sense of the term (libraries, archives, records offices, museums, publishing houses, schools, IT companies and all business systems where there is a need to organise and mediate information, such as transport, banking, industrial, commercial and other commercial and non-commercial systems).

Double-major graduate study in Information Technology is focused on three fundamental pillars through which students are trained, by means of information technology, to:

  • design information systems
  • programme application solutions
  • integrate information systems in organisations

The course content within these three fundamental pillars focuses on the application of information technology in solving the problems of today’s digital age. The study programme encourages innovative solutions in the development of socially useful products and services in the broadest sense, regardless of the type of information and its form, the institution in which the information is located, or the end-user group for whom services are provided.

The aim of the study programme is to educate professionals capable of:

– analysing, designing and maintaining information systems

– independently using programming techniques to develop innovative products or services for specific user needs

– managing information systems in different organisations.

Double-major graduate study in Publishing

The aims of the study programme are to educate professionals who will be able to respond competently to new labour market needs, who will understand and develop publishing as an activity that ensures the uninterrupted flow of knowledge and information, who will improve publishing products by implementing new technologies, who will participate in the dissemination of national heritage and research on printed, online and mobile platforms, and who will study and develop various aspects of publishing both as a professional activity and as an academic discipline.

Upon completion of the graduate study in Publishing, students are qualified to perform the following tasks:

  • conduct market research and examine the possibilities for the activities of a publishing house, analyse existing and create new market niches,
  • select, contact, engage or accept authors and author manuscripts,
  • acquire, edit and disseminate manuscripts and subsequently adapt the placement of manuscripts to different publishing products,
  • contextualise specific publishing products and apply appropriate design, distribution and marketing procedures,
  • assess the suitability of content for a particular publishing field based on knowledge of the structure of publishing fields and the characteristics of each of them,
  • “match” marketing and distribution models with particular authors and manuscripts,
  • assess the quality of an author’s work, production costs and sales potential and decide whether investing in particular authors or projects is financially viable,
  • assess the cultural and scholarly value of an author’s work with the assistance of reviewers and other experts,
  • edit and participate in the design of a book with the aim of meeting the author’s expectations and in accordance with the specific characteristics of the publishing field,
  • use new technologies with the aim of reducing production costs and develop new marketing techniques using “digital communication channels”,
  • promote books to target customers, intermediaries (e.g. booksellers) and key customers (e.g. ministries, school subject groups, etc.),
  • develop short-term and long-term publishing plans and subsequently keep records of the sequence of editorial procedures and the timeliness of those activities.


Social Context and Approach to Developing the Proposal* for Undergraduate and Graduate Study Programmes in Information Science at the Department of Information Sciences

As the implementation of reforms in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), based on the recommendations of the 1999 Bologna Declaration and a series of subsequent documents, was envisaged by the end of 2010, this Proposal for new programmes in the field of information sciences seeks to establish a comprehensive study programme that is harmonised and comparable with related study programmes in Croatia, programmes in this field at a number of European universities and at Rutgers University, USA. At the same time, it seeks to preserve national and cultural specificities as well as the positive experience acquired over more than a quarter of a century of academic education in the field of information sciences in Croatia. The programme proposal takes into account the relevant strategic goals of the Croatian higher education system and the provisions of the Act on Scientific Activity and Higher Education (hereinafter: the Act), which established the legal basis for a new structure of study programmes at higher education institutions.

The proposer of the new Proposal for the Curriculum of the Information Sciences Study Programme (hereinafter: the Curriculum), the Chair of Library Science, considers the establishment of an interdisciplinary study programme in information sciences to be of particular importance for the successful inclusion of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek in the higher education reform processes, since information professionals are one of the essential links in the implementation of a new integrated system of academic education, the organisation and implementation of research activities and cooperation with the business sector. It is well known and generally accepted in societies whose national development strategies are based on the concept of a knowledge society or a society of lifelong learning that information and knowledge are crucial factors of development and that educated information professionals are indispensable mediators and supporters in the selection, acquisition, organisation, storage, evaluation and use of information sources and documents in all media. The proposed Curriculum should therefore, among other things, enable the education of contemporary professional profiles needed for so-called e-learning, e-publishing, e-business and e-government, and increase the horizontal and vertical mobility of students throughout the University, as well as between the University of Osijek and other Croatian and European universities and Rutgers University (with which a Cooperation Agreement was signed in 2004), which offer related programmes.

In developing the Curriculum, particular attention was given to providing professionals from other fields, after completing an undergraduate study programme, with the content and skills within graduate and postgraduate study programmes in information sciences that will be necessary for them to competently perform tasks in their primary fields, which are increasingly based on the application of new technologies and the use of new information sources.

The proposed academic programmes for educating future information professionals are based on the concept of active student participation in teaching, stronger connections among students, teachers, librarians, computing and telecommunications professionals with regard to the use of teaching resources and aids, and the use of new technologies in teaching.

At the theoretical level, the programmes are designed to enable students to understand the nature of information activities, the purpose of individual information institutions and the ways in which services are provided, the purpose and modalities of providing services within the global information infrastructure, the similarities and specific characteristics of information professions, and the specific conditions of their operation and interconnectedness in the changing circumstances of contemporary society.

At the practical level, the programmes are designed so that students become familiar with the nature of products and services created and offered by information institutions and online environments, independently to a greater or lesser extent – depending on whether they have completed the first or both levels of education – use and/or create information products (bibliographic and other databases, indexes, abstracts, etc.), design online content, and understand and respond to diverse and changing user needs and habits. Since the programmes place particular emphasis on linking theory and practice in order to enable students to master the skills necessary for performing more complex tasks in information institutions and online environments, students are expected to acquire skills for adapting to changing conditions in which information institutions operate (e.g. how to work in environments where information services still need to be developed, how to preserve, present and encourage the use of Croatian written heritage, how to improve information literacy, how to work in an online working environment), and to be able to manage change in accordance with the knowledge and skills acquired and the level of their own professional experience.

* The Proposal for the Curriculum of the Information Science Study Programme was adopted at the session of the National Council for Higher Education on 20 June 2005.