University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2023/24 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Engineering > School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering > Computer Science and Electronics with Study Abroad (MEng) > Specification
Programme code | 4COSC017U |
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Programme type | Joint Honours (UG) |
Programme director(s) |
Naim Dahnoun
|
Faculty | Faculty of Engineering |
School/department | School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering |
Second School/department | School of Computer Science |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Accrediting types: |
Accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer. (http://www.theiet.org/) |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 4 years (full time) |
This section sets out why studying this programme is important, both in terms of inspiring you as an individual and in considering the challenges we face. It describes how this degree programme contributes to:
All degree programmes share the University's aim of "offering students the best possible learning experience in a research environment" - enabling them to realise their full potential in their chosen careers. An important goal is to maximise student choice while maintaining academic consistency. This programme aims to offer students a broad and deep understanding of both Computer Science and Electronics, with a particular emphasis in early years on the areas which are on the interface of the two subjects, whilst broadening in later years to more specialist areas.
The programme provides a broad education in fundamental aspects of computer science and electronics and a more advanced knowledge of some topics, particularly but not exclusively those relevant to the other subject in the Joint programme. They develop skill in reasoning, problem-solving, software and hardware development and an ability to think logically and critically and to express ideas clearly. Special emphasis is made on transferable skills relevant to the two subjects, such as professional development, presentation, group work and planning.
The learning outcome statements shown below for your programme have been developed with reference to relevant national subject benchmarks (where they exist), national qualification descriptors (see the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) and professional body requirements.
Teaching, learning and assessment strategies are listed to show how you will be able to achieve and demonstrate the learning outcomes.
This programme provides opportunities for you to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, qualities, skills and other attributes in the following areas:
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
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Lectures - these are normally two hours per week per subject, mainly introducing key concepts but may be interactive (using audience response systems). Many are recorded and made available for later private study. Note, however, that some subjects (e.g. programming) may be taught without lectures, being entirely based on practical work in the laboratory.Tutorials - some subjects provide one-to-one help from academic staff or teaching assistants, e.g. via drop-in classes.Project supervision - academic staff supervise individual research projects, normally taken in the final year, where students can choose a topic from a list or, if desired, propose their own topic. Earlier years include group projects, developing team-working skills. Demonstrations/Practical classes - much of the practical work in the first two years involves laboratory work in which students work through assignments with advice and feedback from demonstrators (academic staff and teaching assistants). Guided independent study - with help from staff, students are encouraged to develop their independent study skills - for example, to find solutions to open-ended design problems. Year Abroad - Students spend their third year at an overseas university or Grande Ecole.
|
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
Assessment is used either to award credit ("summative" assessment) or to allow students to check on their progress ("formative" assessment). In the case of formative assessment, the emphasis is on providing feedback to students to help improve future work, rather than simply assigning a mark. The types of assessment used are as follows: Written exam - normally two or three hours, held at the end of the semester (half-year). This is the main form of summative assessment, and accounts typically for 80% of the credit in most subjects. The remaining forms of assessment are known as "coursework". Written assignment - an essay written in the student's own time. Report - usually covering a laboratory activity and its results; typically two or three per semester. Dissertation - the outcome of a research project; a student usually does only one during the degree programme. Oral assessment and presentation - typically this takes the form of a "poster session" where students present a poster showing the results of their final-year research project and answer questions from staff. There may also be presentations given by project groups to the rest of the class. Practical skills assessment - tests are sometimes set in the laboratory to ensure that students are able to use instruments and software systems properly. Set exercises - typically these are problems that students can work through voluntarily in their own time to check their understanding, and so this is essentially formative assessment; help may be available through tutorials. Other exercises may take the form of an online quiz that students take before a laboratory practical to check they are adequately prepared, or afterwards to check their results. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
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|
Lectures - these are normally two hours per week per subject, mainly introducing key concepts but may be interactive (using audience response systems). Many are recorded and made available for later private study. Note, however, that some subjects (e.g. programming) may be taught without lectures, being entirely based on practical work in the laboratory.Tutorials - some subjects provide one-to-one help from academic staff or teaching assistants, e.g. via drop-in classes.Project supervision - academic staff supervise individual research projects, normally taken in the final year, where students can choose a topic from a list or, if desired, propose their own topic. Earlier years include group projects, developing team-working skills. Demonstrations/Practical classes - much of the practical work in the first two years involves laboratory work in which students work through assignments with advice and feedback from demonstrators (academic staff and teaching assistants). Guided independent study - with help from staff, students are encouraged to develop their independent study skills - for example, to find solutions to open-ended design problems. Year Abroad - Students spend their third year at an overseas university or Grande Ecole.
|
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
Assessment is used either to award credit ("summative" assessment) or to allow students to check on their progress ("formative" assessment). In the case of formative assessment, the emphasis is on providing feedback to students to help improve future work, rather than simply assigning a mark. The types of assessment used are as follows: Written exam - normally two or three hours, held at the end of the semester (half-year). This is the main form of summative assessment, and accounts typically for 80% of the credit in most subjects. The remaining forms of assessment are known as "coursework". Written assignment - an essay written in the student's own time. Report - usually covering a laboratory activity and its results; typically two or three per semester. Dissertation - the outcome of a research project; a student usually does only one during the degree programme. Oral assessment and presentation - typically this takes the form of a "poster session" where students present a poster showing the results of their final-year research project and answer questions from staff. There may also be presentations given by project groups to the rest of the class. Practical skills assessment - tests are sometimes set in the laboratory to ensure that students are able to use instruments and software systems properly. Set exercises - typically these are problems that students can work through voluntarily in their own time to check their understanding, and so this is essentially formative assessment; help may be available through tutorials. Other exercises may take the form of an online quiz that students take before a laboratory practical to check they are adequately prepared, or afterwards to check their results. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning/teaching methods and strategies |
---|---|
|
Lectures - these are normally two hours per week per subject, mainly introducing key concepts but may be interactive (using audience response systems). Many are recorded and made available for later private study. Note, however, that some subjects (e.g. programming) may be taught without lectures, being entirely based on practical work in the laboratory.Tutorials - some subjects provide one-to-one help from academic staff or teaching assistants, e.g. via drop-in classes.Project supervision - academic staff supervise individual research projects, normally taken in the final year, where students can choose a topic from a list or, if desired, propose their own topic. Earlier years include group projects, developing team-working skills. Demonstrations/Practical classes - much of the practical work in the first two years involves laboratory work in which students work through assignments with advice and feedback from demonstrators (academic staff and teaching assistants). Guided independent study - with help from staff, students are encouraged to develop their independent study skills - for example, to find solutions to open-ended design problems. Year Abroad - Students spend their third year at an overseas university or Grande Ecole.
|
Methods of assessment (formative and summative) | |
Assessment is used either to award credit ("summative" assessment) or to allow students to check on their progress ("formative" assessment). In the case of formative assessment, the emphasis is on providing feedback to students to help improve future work, rather than simply assigning a mark. The types of assessment used are as follows: Written exam - normally two or three hours, held at the end of the semester (half-year). This is the main form of summative assessment, and accounts typically for 80% of the credit in most subjects. The remaining forms of assessment are known as "coursework". Written assignment - an essay written in the student's own time. Report - usually covering a laboratory activity and its results; typically two or three per semester. Dissertation - the outcome of a research project; a student usually does only one during the degree programme. Oral assessment and presentation - typically this takes the form of a "poster session" where students present a poster showing the results of their final-year research project and answer questions from staff. There may also be presentations given by project groups to the rest of the class. Practical skills assessment - tests are sometimes set in the laboratory to ensure that students are able to use instruments and software systems properly. Set exercises - typically these are problems that students can work through voluntarily in their own time to check their understanding, and so this is essentially formative assessment; help may be available through tutorials. Other exercises may take the form of an online quiz that students take before a laboratory practical to check they are adequately prepared, or afterwards to check their results. |
Embedded within the curriculum |
Our engineering programmes embed professional practice, both explicitly, and through the programme outcomes. The programme prepares students for a career, as an engineer and/or researcher, and many of the skills taught are transferable to other disciplines as well. |
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Co-curricular opportunities |
Every programme has a connected student society, which creates numerous opportunities for students to develop further, from attending seminars to being involved in outreach. From supporting other students to working on competitions. In addition all programmes encourage students to consider the Bristol Plus award, more information is here: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/careers/bristol-plus-award/ |
This section describes what is expected from you at each level of your programme. This illustrates increasing intellectual standards as you progress through the programme. These levels are mapped against the national level descriptors published by the Quality Assurance Agency.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
Students will have gathered the basics of Programming and Electronic Design. They will also have mastered all the mathematics required for future units. |
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Level I/5 - Intermediate |
Students will know how to design a system consisting of hardware and software components that operate concurrently, and have a basic understanding of how it communicates with the outside world. |
Level H/6 - Honours |
Students will know how to control actuators in the outside world, and how to interpret data from the outside world. |
Level M/7 - Masters |
Students will know how to develop large scale systems that are efficient, correct, power efficient. In addition, student will have gained depth in options of their choice in the areas of networking, image and video, etc. |
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.
Undergraduate Students
Success as an undergraduate student depends on you being able to make the transition to self-motivated, independent learning. Programmes are designed to assist you in this development, in many cases by starting with units in which timetabled teaching, such as lectures and practical classes, provides the foundations of knowledge and skills in a subject, moving on to individual research-based work. Over time you will be expected to take increasing responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive.
Postgraduate Students
Taught postgraduate students are generally studying for one academic year. This is a longer year than for undergraduates, normally culminating in a research project. In a one-year full-time programme your workload will be distributed as evenly as possible, but this will depend on the precise arrangements for your programme. You will be expected to take responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive.
All students
At the heart of your studies at every level there must be regular and disciplined individual reading, reflection and writing and it is this skill of independent studies, above all others, that will serve you best when you leave the University.
Most programmes use credits and a 20-credit unit broadly equates to about 200 hours of student input. This includes all activities related to the teaching, learning and assessment of taught units.
A component of this is the time that you spend in class, in contact with the teaching staff, which includes activities such as lectures, laboratories, tutorials, problem-solving classes and fieldwork. Some of this activity may be online and could consist of activity that is synchronous (using real-time environments such as Blackboard Collaborate) or asynchronous (using tools such as tutor moderated discussion forums, blogs or wikis).
In some programmes there are field courses and/or placements that will take place in concentrated periods of time.
Outside scheduled activities you are expected to pursue your own independent learning 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.
We recognise that many students undertake paid employment. To achieve a sensible balance between work and study, you are advised to undertake paid work for no more than 15 hours per week in term-time.
UG Professional Programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences
For these professional programmes, full time attendance is compulsory unless absence is formally approved. Academic activities are timetabled throughout the 5-day week and student workload is around 40 hours per week on average. Where possible, students in the early years are permitted Wednesday afternoons for sport and extra-curricula activities. This is usually not available in later years of professional programmes as when a student progresses through their curriculum there is an increasing exposure to clinical and professional activities. Students in clinic or on placements may need to stay later than core times of 08.00 – 18.00 or even overnight to observe out-of-hours activities. There may also be an occasional need to work or travel to clinical placements at the weekend. This increasing exposure to clinical activities means that students on these professional programmes often have longer term dates than the University standard. Individual years within programmes are likely to vary in length (for example because of the timings of placements) and further information on this will be found in individual programme information. Another important point to note is that many of the assessments sit outside the standard University examination timetable and are likely to be more frequent, meaning that students will need to engage in revision activities and self-directed learning (including when on clinical placements).
Health Sciences Assessment Statement
Please select the following link for a statement about assessment in the Faculty of Health Sciences. This is University of Bristol access only.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/health-sciences/chse/documents/FHS%20Assessment%20and%20Feedback%20statement%202021.pdf
In addition to the fees for the programme, a student will encounter costs for travel, any required visas, insurance and accommodation.
This integrated Masters programme has been designated as type III: Professional or Practice Masters in accordance with the QAA Degree Characteristics Statement. 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 | |
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Imperative and Functional Programming | COMS10016 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Computer Architecture | COMS10015 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Object-Oriented Programming and Algorithms I | COMS10017 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Engineering Mathematics 1 | EMAT10100 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Analysis and Design of Electrical & Electronic Systems | EENG10006 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
This integrated Masters programme has been designated as type III: Professional or Practice Masters in accordance with the QAA Degree Characteristics Statement. 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 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Engineering Mathematics 2 | EMAT20200 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Algorithms and Data | COMS20017 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Computer Systems A | COMS20008 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Computer Systems B | COMS20012 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
This integrated Masters programme has been designated as type III: Professional or Practice Masters in accordance with the QAA Degree Characteristics Statement. 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 | |
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Year of Study Abroad | EENG30600 | 120 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
120 |
This integrated Masters programme has been designated as type III: Professional or Practice Masters in accordance with the QAA Degree Characteristics Statement. 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 | |
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Individual Research Project 4 | EENGM8889 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Select 80 Credit Points from the options listed below: | ||||
If you pick Computer Science options, you MUST pick the 0 credit Teaching Unit and ONE of the associated credit-bearing Assessment units. Students who want to take the COMS 20 with credit coursework assessment options can only pick two of these, and they cannot be taken alongside EENG or INOV TB1 options. Students cannot take both the 10 credit exam assessment and the 20 credit with coursework assessment. Please note, if you have already taken one of the 10 credit Computer Science options in Year 3, you cannot also choose it in Year 4. | ||||
Internet Economics and Financial Technology (with Coursework) | COMSM0140 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Applied Deep Learning (Teaching Unit) | COMSM0045 | 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 |
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 |
Coding Theory 4 | EENGM2011 | 10 | Optional | TB-1 |
Robotics Systems UG | EMATM0053 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise | INOVM0015 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Options choices subject to timetabling availability. | ||||
Computer Science and Electronics with Study Abroad (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.
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