External Links
This page contains a number of useful external links to tertiary institutions in South Africa which offer OR courses as well as OR societies and regional groupings of such societies. Links are also provided to OR-related, electronic newsletters and OR-related scholarly journals. Finally some links to particularly useful free and open source software repositories are provided.
EURO
The Association of European Operational Research Societies
IFORS
The International Federation of Operational Research Societies
Tertiary Institutions in South Africa offering OR-related Courses
Operations Research is an inter-disciplinary field; hence it is possible to train as an operations researcher in many different ways. For example, some universities and technikons offer bachelor's degrees and diplomas in Operations Research; others in Quantitative Management, Decision Sciences or in Management Science. At some universities students enrol for bachelor's degrees in basic mathematical sciences, like statistics or applied mathematics, and then focus on operations research for their course work. However, some universities do offer full programmes in Operations Research. There are also a number of different levels of qualification, such as diplomas, BSc or BComm degrees, honours degrees, masters degrees and PhDs. Some South African tertiary institutions offering qualifications in OR:
Department of Decision Sciences, UNISA (formerly the Department of Quantitative Management)
Department of Industrial Engineering, Stellenbosch University
Kindly contact the webmaster if your department offers courses in Operations Reseach, but is not listed here.
OR Societies & Regional Groupings
The International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) is an umbrella organisation comprising the national Operations Research societies of more than fifty countries worldwide. The mission of IFORS is to promote Operations Research as an academic discipline and a profession. ORSSA is a member of IFORS.
In a number of cases, national Operations Research societies have organised themselves into regional groupings, organising their own conferences and other activities. The three largest of these regional groupings are:
Europe (EURO) (ORSSA is a member of this regional grouping of OR societies)
The official websites a a number of national Operations Research societies may be found below:
Australia (ASOR)
Austria (OGOR)
Belgium (ORBEL)
Brazil (SOBRAPO)
Canada (CORS)
Croatia (CRORS)
Czeck Republic (CSOV)
Denmark (DORS)
Finland (FORS)
France (ROADEF)
Germany (GOR)
Greece (HELORS)
Hungary (MOT)
Iceland (ICORS)
Ireland (MSSI)
Israel (ORSIS)
Italy (AIRO)
Lithuania (LitORS)
The Netherlands (NGB)
Norway (NORS)
Poland (POSRS)
Portugal (APDIO)
Slovakia (SSOR)
Slovenia (SOR)
Spain (SEIO)
Sweden (SOAF)
Switzerland (SVOR)
Turkey (ORST)
United Kingdom (ORS)
United States (INFORMS)
Special Interest Groups
There are a number of special interest groups worldwide, each organised according to some OR-related theme or topic of interest, such as:
OR Journals and Newsletters
Links are provided to publications other than those of ORSSA. In particular, links are provided to four external newsletters of interest, as well as thirty OR-related scholarly journals.
Newsletters:
Journals:
Free and Open Source Software Resources
This table below contains a partial list of some useful resources relating to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).