Computer science started at Aarhus University in 1971 as a part of the Department of Mathematical Sciences. In the period 1993-1998, computer science went through a very rapid growth increasing the total staff from 80 to 160 people - primarily due to a dramatic increase in the amount of external funding.

An independent Department of Computer Science was created in January 1998. Over the next 5-6 years, the department gradually moved to new buildings as a part of the university's plan to concentrate the IT activities in the IT-City of Katrinebjerg. There is a close collaboration with other organisations in Katrinebjerg, particular with the Department of Information and Media Sciences and the Alexandra Institute.

The department is strong in both theoretical and experimental computer science. While this has been the case for a long time, we have in recent years seen much closer collaboration between the different  research groups - even those which have traditionally been perceived as being far from each other (with respect to scientific goals/methods). Partly as a result of this, recent projects at the department have targeted research themes and application areas that are interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary in nature.