Communications and Marketing

30 years of the Department of Computer Science at H-BRS

Gruppe Fachbereich Informatik draussen StA 20260423 Foto Martin Schulz 09

Tuesday 9 June 2026

Three professorships, a handful of lecturers and 30 students: In the Winter semester of 1996/97, one year after the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS) was founded, the Department of Computer Science began its work with the Applied Computer Science degree programme. Teaching and learning took place in a lecture theatre and a computer lab in the so-called tower on Rathausallee in Sankt Augustin - the campus did not yet exist. Today, the Department of Computer Science has more than 2,500 students, nine degree programmes and several research institutes on cutting-edge topics.
Prof. Dr. Sascha Alda
Dean of the Department of Computer Science: Professor Sascha Alda.

"The department has grown continuously and has always evolved to keep up with the times," says Dean Sascha Alda, who joined the university 16 years ago as Professor of Software Architecture. In its early days, the Department of Computer Science focussed on computer science in general, but today it has a very broad base. "Cyber Security and Privacy has been a focus of teaching and research for a few years now," explains Alda. Five years ago, the bachelor's degree programme of the same name was added to the programme, and two years later the corresponding Master's degree programme was launched. The research activities are pooled at the Institute for Cyber Security & Privacy - and the results flow directly into teaching.

Land NRW extends funding for the Cyber Campus NRW

In order to train the urgently needed IT security specialists, H-BRS also founded the Cyber Campus NRW (CCNRW) with the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in 2020. As part of this collaboration, H-BRS is also involved in the Digital Forensics degree programme at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in Mönchengladbach, where around half of the students are police officers. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia supports the CCNRW and only extended its funding at the beginning of this year. 

Gruppe Fachbereich Informatik draussen StA 20260423 Foto Martin Schulz 09
The employees of the Department of Computer Science at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg have every reason to be happy. Photo: Martin Schulz/H-BRS

The Department of Computer Science is constantly developing its teaching. For example, the introduction to artificial intelligence is a compulsory course in all bachelor's degree programmes. The innovative and interdisciplinary Master's degree programme "Information Systems, Sustainability and Digitisation" started in the current Summer semester. Two other future-oriented topics have been in the portfolio for some time: the English-language Master's degree programmes Autonomous Systems and Game Technologies, which also attract many international students. The b-it-bots, the university's student robotics team, became Robocup World Champions in the category of working robots in Brazil last year - for the third time.

The department's research focuses on security research, visual computing, AI and autonomous systems.

Practical teaching, regionally integrated and internationally networked

"Today, we are a very broad-based department with a strong research focus, low hierarchies and very good conditions for students," says Dean Alda. "We teach and work in a practical way, are regionally interlinked and internationally networked." The public can regularly gain an impression of the work of the Department of Computer Science - for example at the computer games fair Gamescom, where H-BRS has a stand, or at the free and open source conference FrOSCon at the university. 

Generational change 

As is the case throughout the university, a generational change is currently taking place in the Department of Computer Science. The three professorships 30 years ago have now become 33 professorships, plus honorary professorships, research associates and lecturers. "We have many young, committed professors who bring a great deal of knowledge and innovation to the table and work on current topics such as privacy and data science," explains Alda. In the past three years, five new professorships have been filled, and three more will follow this year. "We are well positioned for the coming period in terms of topics and personnel," says the Dean.

Further information on the history and anniversary of the Department of Computer Science at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg can be found on the H-BRS website

Contact us

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Sascha Alda

Dean of the Department , Software-Architecture, Director b-it

Location

Sankt Augustin

Room

C 218 / Dean's office C 101

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

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Public Relations Department of Computer Science

Homepage of the Department, Event Management, Press Relations, Brochures, Flyers etc.

Location

Sankt Augustin

Room

C 157

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

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Daniela Greulich

Deputy Head of executive department Communications and Marketing/Press and Public Relations, Press Officer

Location

Sankt Augustin

Room

E 237

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

Telephone

+49 2241 865 641