History

The history of the department goes back to 1976, when a minor degree (i.e., in practice a bachelor degree) in computer science was established in combination with a graduate degree (called cand. scient.) in mathematics. In the early 1980s, major degrees in computer science (cand. scient.) and computer engineering (cand. polyt.) were established with associated undergraduate studies in mathematics and electronics engineering, respectively. 

From the early beginning until 1990, the number of awarded graduate degrees grew from less than 5 per year to approximately 40, and the number of scientific staff (full, associate, and assistant professors) grew from 4 to 8. The first full professor was appointed in 1987.

From the mid-1980s to 1993, the Ministry of Research and Education reserved special budgets for computer science and engineering at all Danish universities. This meant that computer science was able to initiate a relatively high volume of Ph.D. studies (3-4 per year), and that the Faculty granted more positions as assistant professor and associate professor to the follow up on this. At the end of 2000, the scientific staff consisted of 38 full, associate, and assistant professors.

Computer science was previously together with mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science that again was part of the Department of Electronic Systems. The department was first separated from mathematics in 1995, and then in 1999 it became an independent department at the same organisational level as Mathematics and Electronic Systems. As a consequence the department received its internal funding directly from the Faculty starting from 1999.