The proposal for the Department of Computer Science, University of Ibadan was written in 1973, and the department was established in 1974. The department had been operating a four-year Computer Science curriculum since inception which was first based on the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) 1968 recommendation. This curriculum has gone through subsequent reviews which have tried to keep up with later recommendations of the ACM, with the latest being the current Five-year Curriculum approved in 2015 for the Department. The first set of 21 students in the Department graduated with B. Sc. Degree (Computer Science) in 1978. The Department was conceived as a means of training manpower to meet the demand for increasing

computerization in Nigeria. The department has teaching and research experience in Artificial

Intelligence, Software Engineering, Data Mining and Data Science, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, Computer Networking and Cybersecurity, and Bioinformatics. The Department also offers postgraduate Programmes leading to the award of academic M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Computer Science and a Master in Business Computing programme. Starting with the transition to a five-year curriculum, the undergraduate programme in Computer Science runs in both Physical and Open Distance Learning (ODL) modes. The Department has proved itself as a Centre for Excellence in the training of computing professionals evidenced by the numerous awards its students had won over the years in both national and international competitions, and the excellent feedback from employers of its graduates in both academia and industry.

The modern trend in computing now is diversification and specialization of Computing Knowledge among the professionals. This is why from the 2018 edition of the Bench Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS), the National University Commission (NUC) has unbundled the Computer Science programme into different knowledge areas namely: Computer Science, Software Engineering, Cybersecurity, Information System, Information Technology, Data Science and Information and Communications Technology. This unbundling will make students to be more focused right from the outset on particular lines of computing knowledge and eventually be effective in their chosen line of Computing. It is on this note that the Department of Computer Science, transits to Faculty of Computing in 2025 with the Department of Software Engineering, being one of its maiden departments. The programme in Software Engineering will focus on imparting the knowledge and practical skills to enable students understand the principles and practice of software systems design, development and maintenance. This will enable them to balance software system design and development with safety, reliability, cost and scheduling especially for large scale systems.