Spike in applicants for Artificial Intelligence programmes is cause for concern
Universities nationwide are struggling to cope with the increased number of students.
Programme director and professor Cees Snoek is unsure what to think about the influx. Increased levels of interest in the subject is of course a good thing, he says, but it is also causing problems. ‘When I was at university there were about 30 students. Now we have 700 applications for the research master’s… We’ve admitted 300 of them, 246 of which have confirmed that they will actually start in September, but frankly I hope that’s it because it’s about all we can handle.’
One of the issues with the increased interest in A.I. (a degree in which provides near 100 per cent job certainity) is the fact that companies like Google and Amazon pay so well, which makes it increasing difficult to find lecturers to teach and lead research for the university.
Hire junior teachers
Another is the sheer number of new students. ‘The course is designed to accomodate 150’, says Snoek, ‘so we will have to hire junior teachers and ask more PhDs to teach in order to accomodate all the new students. For now this is manageable, but I forsee a real problem in September 2019 when they start on their theses and are in need of mentor support. We’ll probably approach people from the business world’. But even this isn’t a solution. ‘The master’s thesis should be research-based. It shouldn’t be too practical.’
The problems are less significant for the bachelor’s programme. For the academic year 2018/2019, 113 students had registered by the end of June compared to 177 last year — a decline of more than one third. For the academic year 2019/2020, a numerus fixus of 200 students has been set. This is manageable, according to Snoek, because the curriculum is standardised.
Four new professors
Wouter ter Haar of the UvA Strategy & Information Department says if you look at the overall picture, things aren’t too bad. ‘If you look at market share, you see that overall interest in the A.I. bachelor’s hasn’t really changed that much. For the master's, of course, national interest has indeed increased.’
Last week, the UvA announced the appointment of four new professors from different scientific disciplines each with a focus on A.I. ‘This will certainly help develop the breadth of the discipline,' says Snoek, 'but it’s not enough. We also need researchers to conduct in-depth research, which is why it’s such good news that Google Brain recently announced that it will establish a research lab in Amsterdam to focus on the challenges at the core of artifical intelligence.’
