University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2018/19 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Engineering > Department of Computer Science > Computer Science (MEng) > Specification
Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
Programme code | 4COSC008U |
---|---|
Programme type | Single Honours |
Programme director(s) |
Chris Preist
|
Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
School/department | Department of Computer Science |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Accrediting types: |
Accredited by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer. (http://www.bcs.org/) Accredited by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT on behalf of the Science Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Scientist. (http://www.bcs.org/) Accredited by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional. (http://www.bcs.org/) |
Relevant QAA subject benchmark groups | Computing (2019) (benchmark statement) |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 4 years (full time) |
Through this programme, the Department of Computer Science aims to:
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
---|---|
|
Acquisition of knowledge through lectures, tutorials, laboratory sessions. Independent learning is achieved through written coursework and research projects.
|
Methods of Assessment | |
The knowledge base is largely tested through traditional unseen written examinations (which include hypothetical problems and short answer questions). Many units are assessed partly through written course and laboratory work, which requires a more detailed and expansive treatment of certain topics. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
---|---|
|
Intellectual skills are developed through tutorials, oral presentations and coursework. All units are structured in such a way that the skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation are developed. In addition, specific units focus on other intellectual skills (problem-solving and research) and opportunities for practising these skills are offered in other units.
|
Methods of Assessment | |
The knowledge base is largely tested through traditional unseen written examinations (which include hypothetical problems and short answer questions). Many units are assessed partly through written course and laboratory work, which requires a more detailed and expansive treatment of certain topics. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
---|---|
|
|
Methods of Assessment | |
Assessment of transferable skills is primarily through written assignments (examinations, assessed course/lab work and research projects) which provide evidence of communication skills. Oral communication is assessed through formal presentations. There are also mandatory project units for all awards which develop team work. |
Statement of expectations from the students at each level of the programme as it/they develop year on year.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
Will have a sound knowledge of the basic concepts of a subject, and will have learned how to take different approaches to solving problems. He or she will be able to communicate accurately, and will have the qualities needed for employment requiring the exercise of some personal responsibility. |
---|---|
Level I/5 - Intermediate |
Will have developed a sound understanding of the principles in their field of study and will have learned to apply those principles more widely. Through this, they will have learned to evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to solving problems. Their studies may well have had a vocational orientation, enabling them to perform effectively in their chosen field. They will have the qualities necessary for employment in situations requiring the exercise of personal responsibility and decision-making. |
Level H/6 - Honours |
Will have developed an understanding of a complex body of knowledge, some of it at the current boundaries of an academic discipline. Through this, the graduate will have developed analytical techniques and problem-solving skills that can be applied in many types of employment. The graduate will be able to evaluate evidence, arguments and assumptions, to reach sound judgements, and to communicate effectively.Should have the qualities needed for employment in situations requiring the exercise of personal responsibility, and decision-making in complex and unpredictable circumstances. |
Level M/7 - Masters |
Much of the study undertaken at Masters Level will have been at, or informed by, the forefront of an academic or professional discipline. Students will have shown originality in the application of knowledge, and they will understand how the boundaries of knowledge are advanced through research. They will be able to deal with complex issues both systemically and creatively, and they will show originality in tackling and solving problems. They will have the qualities needed for employment in circumstances requiring sound judgement, personal responsibility and initiative, in complex and unpredictable professional environments. They will have had experience of designing, building and testing a product with the aim of bringing it to market. |
The intended learning outcome mapping document shows which mandatory units contribute towards each programme intended learning outcome.
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
Workload Statement
Student workloads in the Engineering Faculty are calculated on the assumption that you will work an average of 40 hours per week over the 30 weeks of the academic year. 10 credits therefore represents about 100 hours of student work. This workload includes all activities related to the delivery and assessment of taught units.
A major component of this load is the time that you spend in class, in contact with the teaching staff, which includes lectures, laboratories, computing classes, tutorials, examples classes and design classes. In the early years of the Engineering programmes this scheduled time typically amounts to 17 -25 hours per week; in the later years this reduces to 7-12 hours as more time is allocated to un-scheduled work on individual or group projects.
Outside timetabled activities you are expected to pursue your own independent learning in order to build your knowledge and understanding of the subjects you are studying. Such independent activities include reviewing lecture material, reading textbooks, working on examples sheets, completing coursework, writing up laboratory notes, preparing for in-class progress tests and revising for examinations.
The 100 hours per 10 credits includes all the time that you will need to spend on completing coursework assignments to the required standard or preparing for and taking examinations. For units that are assessed by coursework alone, the full 100 hours per 10 credits is expected to be used in completing the coursework and so these units may put a higher demand on your time during the normal teaching year. Exams are held in January and May/June while coursework deadlines are spread out through the teaching year. You will therefore need to plan carefully to make sure that you can meet your coursework deadlines while still keeping up with your scheduled classes. Your Department will provide you with a coursework schedule each year to allow you to manage your workload efficiently.
Assessment Statement
Please select the following link for a statement about assessment. This is University of Bristol access only.
https://www.bris.ac.uk/engineering/currentstudents/handbooks/ughandbook/dean.html#assess
The individual project in the 4th year occupies the student full-time for one complete semester. This provides the student with the opportunity of doing the project with a company and spending much of the time on the company's premises.
Departmental web pages at: http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/
Department Office - Department of Computer Science
Merchant Venturers Building
Woodland Road
Bristol
BS8 1UB
Tel: 0117 954 5132
Fax: 0117 954 5208
This Integrated Master's programme has been designated as type III: Professional in accordance with the QAA descriptors for Master's programmes. Please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes for further information on this type of programme.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Introduction to Computer Architecture | COMS12200 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Mathematical Methods for Computer Scientists | COMS10003 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Theory of Computation | COMS11700 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Algorithms | COMS10007 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Imperative Programming | COMS10008 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Functional Programming | COMS10006 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Object-Oriented Programming | COMS10009 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Security 101 | COMS10005 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Databases and Cloud Concepts | COMS10010 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Probability and Statistics | COMS10011 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
This Integrated Master's programme has been designated as type III: Professional in accordance with the QAA descriptors for Master's programmes. Please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes for further information on this type of programme.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Data Structures and Algorithms | COMS21103 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Symbols, Patterns and Signals | COMS21202 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Language Engineering | COMS22201 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Concurrent Computing | COMS20001 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Software Product Engineering | COMS20805 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Computer Science in Society | COMS20005 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
10CP from: | ||||
Communication, complexity and number theory | COMS20002 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Human-Computer Interaction | COMS21301 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
This Integrated Master's programme has been designated as type III: Professional in accordance with the QAA descriptors for Master's programmes. Please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes for further information on this type of programme.
Students may chose to take 2x20cp Mini projects in lieu of the 40cp team project. Students who chose to do so will qualify for the MSci Computer Science award which is currently not BCS accredited. BSc Engineering (Computer Science) is the unaccredited bachelors level exit award for students who have opted for the MSci.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Team Project | COMS30043 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Select 80 credits of options from the lists below | ||||
List 1: Teaching Block 1 options | ||||
Select four options from the following list, then select an assessment for each from Lists 2 and 3. Two of your selected options should be assessed by Exam (List 2). Two of your selected options should be assessed by Coursework (List 3) | ||||
Advanced Algorithms (Teaching Unit) | COMS30042 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Artificial Intelligence (Teaching Unit) | COMS30014 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Computational Neuroscience (Teaching Unit) | COMS30017 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Computer Graphics (Teaching Unit) | COMS30020 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Cryptology (Teaching Unit) | COMS30023 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Design Verification (Teaching Unit) | COMS30026 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Image Processing and Computer Vision (Teaching Unit) | COMS30030 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Machine Learning (Teaching Unit) | COMS30035 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Security Behaviours (Teaching Unit) | COMS30038 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Types and Lambda Calculus (Teaching Unit) | COMS30040 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
List 2: Teaching Block 1 Exam Assessments | ||||
Select two Exam Assessments from the list below, associated with three of the options that you selected from List 1. | ||||
Advanced Algorithms | COMS30041 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Artificial Intelligence | COMS30013 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Computational Neuroscience | COMS30016 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Computer Graphics | COMS30018 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Cryptology | COMS30021 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Design Verification | COMS30024 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Image Processing and Computer Vision | COMS30032 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Machine Learning | COMS30033 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Security Behaviours | COMS30036 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Types and Lambda Calculus | COMS30039 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
List 3: Teaching Block 1 Coursework Assessments | ||||
Select two Coursework Assessments from the list below, associated with two of the options that you selected from List 1. | ||||
Artificial Intelligence (with Coursework) | COMS30012 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Computational Neuroscience (with Coursework) | COMS30015 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Computer Graphics (with Coursework) | COMS30019 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Cryptology (with Coursework) | COMS30022 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Design Verification (with Coursework) | COMS30025 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Image Processing and Computer Vision (with Coursework) | COMS30031 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Machine Learning (with Coursework) | COMS30034 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Security Behaviours (with Coursework) | COMS30037 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
List 4: Teaching Block 2 Options | ||||
Select one option from the list below, and also its associated 20-credit assessment co-requisite. | ||||
Advanced Computer Architecture (Teaching Unit) | COMS30046 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
Advanced Computer Architecture | COMS30047 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Applied Cryptology (Teaching Unit) | COMS30048 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
Applied Cryptology | COMS30049 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Applied Data Science (Teaching Unit) | COMS30050 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
Applied Data Science | COMS30051 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
CGI (Teaching Unit) | COMS30058 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
CGI | COMS30059 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
High Performance Computing (Teaching Unit) | COMS30053 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
High Performance Computing | COMS30052 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Interaction Design (Teaching Unit) | COMS30060 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
Interaction Design | COMS30061 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
BSc | 120 |
This Integrated Master's programme has been designated as type III: Professional in accordance with the QAA descriptors for Master's programmes. Please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes for further information on this type of programme.
Mandatory Unit COMSM0052 is must pass. For the definition of must pass units please see the Glossary of Terms from Annex 1 to the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Individual Project with Innovation Case | COMSM0052 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Select 80 credits of options from the lists below: | ||||
List 1: Teaching Block 1 options | ||||
Select five options from the following list, then select an assessment for each. Three of your selected options should be assessed by Exam (List 2). Two of your selected options should be assessed by Coursework (List 3). | ||||
Advanced Cryptology (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0042 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Advanced Topics in Programming Languages (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0067 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Advanced Topics in Theoretical Computer Science (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0068 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Applied Deep Learning (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0045 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Cloud Computing and Big Data (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0072 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Human-Computer Interaction (Teaching Unit) | COMS30029 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Information Processing and the Brain (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0075 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Internet Economics and Financial Technology (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0046 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
Systems and Software Security (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0049 | 0 | Optional | TB-1 |
List 2: Teaching Block 1 Exam Assessments | ||||
Select three Exam Assessments from the list below, associated with three of the options that you select from List 1. | ||||
Advanced Cryptology | COMSM0040 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Advanced Topics in Programming Languages | COMSM0066 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Advanced Topics in Theoretical Computer Science | COMSM0069 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Applied Deep Learning | COMSM0043 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Cloud Computing and Big Data | COMSM0071 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Human-Computer Interaction | COMSM0114 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Information Processing and the Brain | COMSM0073 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Internet Economics and Financial Technology | COMSM0047 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Systems and Software Security | COMSM0050 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
List 3: Teaching Block 1 Coursework Assessments | ||||
Select two Coursework Assessments from the list below, associated with two of the options that you selected from List 1. | ||||
Advanced Cryptology (with Coursework) | COMSM0097 | 15 | Optional | TB-1 |
Applied Deep Learning (with Coursework) | COMSM0098 | 15 | Optional | TB-1 |
Cloud Computing and Big Data (with Coursework) | COMSM0099 | 15 | Optional | TB-1 |
Human-Computer Interaction (with Coursework) | COMSM0113 | 15 | Optional | TB-1 |
Information Processing and the Brain (with Coursework) | COMSM0100 | 15 | Optional | TB-1 |
Internet Economics and Financial Technology (with Coursework) | COMSM0101 | 15 | Optional | TB-1 |
Systems and Software Security (with Coursework) | COMSM0102 | 15 | Optional | TB-1 |
List 4: Teaching Block 2 Options | ||||
Select one option from the list below, and also its associated 20-credit assessment co-requisite. | ||||
Advanced Computer Architecture (Teaching Unit) | COMS30046 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
Advanced Computer Architecture | COMSM0053 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Applied Cryptology (Teaching Unit) | COMS30048 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
Applied Cryptology | COMSM0054 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Applied Data Science (Teaching Unit) | COMS30050 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
Applied Data Science | COMSM0055 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
CGI (Teaching Unit) | COMS30058 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
CGI | COMSM0076 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
High Performance Computing (Teaching Unit) | COMS30053 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
High Performance Computing | COMSM0057 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Interaction Design (Teaching Unit) | COMS30060 | 0 | Optional | TB-2 |
Interaction Design | COMSM0083 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Robotics Systems UG | EMATM0053 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Computer Science (MEng) | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
University of Bristol,
Senate House,
Tyndall Avenue,
Bristol, BS8 1TH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 928 9000