General Information

The Computer Science and Engineering Department offers a BSc in Computer Science program in addition to its existing BEng in Computer Science. This special program, however, is not intended for students to take it by itself. It is designed for students who wish to graduate with a double-major BSc degree, i.e., when enrolling in this BSc program in Computer Science, students are also required to declare study in another BSc program. They are then required to complete the requirements of both BSc degrees, and will receive a BSc degree with two program designations upon graduation.

Students who join the program are carefully supervised in order to build and follow a study plan tailored to their specific interests and needs, and serve as a strong platform to achieve their future career goals. Many alumni subsequently joined top graduate level programs worldwide (see "Alumni" section below).

Admission

Eligibility

Admission to the double major program requires the permission of both the CSE department and the 2nd department. We currently require a CGA of A- and the existence of a workable double-major study plan that allows the student to finish within the standard 3/4 years.

In special cases we will accept students who have a B+ average but have shown exceptional performance in their major courses.

"Trying out" the program

Students who are interested in the possibility of declaring a double major, should try to develop a tentative study plan to better assess the feasibility of completing the program. Details and instructions can be found in this Study Plan Sheet and the "Study Plan" section below. Once you have a tentative study plan, you should schedule a meeting with the BSc COMP coordinator. This should be done as early as possible to ensure that you can take the needed courses in time. He/she will assist the student in develop a reasonable study plan to help meet the requirements to join the program.

Officially joining the program

Students who have already registered in the BEng in Computer Science (or other undergraduate programs) and wish to study the BSc in Computer Science as their first major must apply for transfer into this program. They are required to declare study in another BSc program (second major) at the same time. Transfer applications should be submitted no earlier than the second semester of their first year of study and at the latest before the end of the add/drop period of their final semester of study.

Declaration procedure for BEng students: Fill in two forms at the same time: (1) the form to transfer from BEng program (e.g., COMP/CSIE/CPEG) to BSc COMP program (COSC), (2) the form to declare a dual program designation (e.g., MATH). Please note that MATH requires students to declare which major option (e.g., Applied Math, Pure Math, General Math) they wish to pursue at the time of declaring MATH as the second major. These forms can be obtained from Brenda Tam at the CSE General Office. The forms can be submitted to COMP UG Coordinator (via the CSE General Office) any time during a semester, however the transfer will only be effective at the beginning of the following semester.

Students who wish to study the BSc in Computer Science as their second major should follow the declaration procedures set by their (first) major department.

Leaving the program

Students who wish to discontinue study in the BSc in Computer Science as their first major may apply for transferring to the BEng program in Computer Science or other program. Application for the former must be submitted to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering no later than the last day of the add/drop period in the first semester of their final year of study. Application for the latter will be considered and approved by the program department concerned.

Study Plan

Important Resources

This section provides information on preparing a study plan and filling out a Study Plan Sheet that meets the requirements of the COMP B.Sc. degree.

Current detailed information on program requirements can be found in the Program Catalog (see COSC link for COMP B.Sc. requirements). For students admitted in previous years, the same program information can be obtained from the Curriculum Handbook.
Direct links to the COMP B.Sc. program information for students admitted on: 2011, 2010, 2009.

Sample study patterns can be found on the ARR page on recommended study patterns.
Direct links to sample COMP B.Sc. study patterns for students admitted on: 2011, 2010, 2009.

Note that students also need to fulfill the requirements of the second major. Make sure to also check these requirements in the program catalog or curriculum handbook.

Also refer to the external shortcuts on the left sidebar at the top of the page for direct links to other useful resources, such as course listings.

Additional reference study patterns prepared for students who entered before 2010

Notes for students interested in going out on exchange

HKUST students are highly encoraged to go on exchange. The international exposure gained enhances students' educational experience, boosts personal development, and helps provide a competitive advantage in future career development.

The majority of our double-major students do exchange out for a semester. There is an important caveat here, though. Most of the students who did exchange out entered HKUST in year 0, e.g., as EAS or mainland students and spent 4 years studying at HKUST. Doing an exchange during a 4-year program, even a double-major one, is easily possible, though care must be taken to develop a study plan to accommodate, taking courses that can be transfered to HKUST to fill degree requirements.

Students who enter UST via JUPAS to take the standard 3-year program, though, will probably NOT be able to do a double major and exchange out for a semester.

Notes for students interested in doing research

Students interested in doing research are encouraged to approach a faculty member with similar research interests and discuss the possibility of working on a UROP project. UROP stands for Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, and is one of HKUST's signature programs designed to provide a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to engage in academic research and help them develop a broad and insightful perspective of their areas of interest. For additional information on this program refer to the UROP project page.

As with the exchange program, care must be taken not to overload oneself with too many courses and research tasks in the same term.

FAQ

Why is there a separate BSc COMP double-major program?
HKUST students cannot normally register two degrees, e.g., a BEng and BSc, at the same time. For this reason, students are not allowed to simultaneously register for a BEng in Computer Science and, say, a BSc in Mathematics or Physics. They are, though, allowed to simultaneously register for two majors in the same degree. The BSc(COMP) was specifically designed to allow interested students to simultaneously major in COMP and some other BSc major, e.g., MATH or Physics.

We note that, technically, UST does not have any double-major programs. Students register for two programs and must completely satisfy the full requirements of both programs. What makes this possible is that many of the ancillary components of the majors, e.g., English courses, GEE courses and basic math courses, can count towards the requirements of both majors.
What are the major differences between the BEng COMP degree and the BSc COMP degree?
The BSc degree retains all of the core COMP BEng requirements. The major differences are that Final Year project requirement has been removed and that the number of required COMP electives has been reduced from 7 to 5. This freeing up of credits will allow the students to get a double major with other fields.
What other majors can be taken as a second major with COMP?
According to HKUST regulations, any other BSc major could, theoretically be taken as a second major with COMP.

In practice, scheduling constraints make some 2nd major pairings impossible. Known workable pairings are COMP/MATH (for all MATH programs), COMP/PHYSICS, COMP/MAEC and COMP/RMBI.

This does not mean that other pairings are impossible. In fact, the double major was originally only designed with the MATH pairing in mind. Later combinations were added when interested students came to the CS department and asked if it was possible to set up a study plan allowing other possibilities. If you are interested in a pairing that is not listed above, please contact the BSc COMP coordinator.
I don't know now if I want to double major but do want to keep my options open for declaring later. What should I do?
The first thing you should do is take the courses that would be necessary for double major students. For COMP, that requires taking COMP 1004 (previously 104) as early as possible (a common mistake for students coming from outside the CSE department is taking other introductory courses, such as COMP 1002 (102)). For MATH, that would require taking MATH 2021 (102) or MATH 2023 (101).

If you are all interested in the possibility of declaring a double major later, it is best for you to talk with the BSc COMP coordinator as early as possible. He/she will help you develop a reasonable study plan.
How long will it take a student to get a double major?
3 years for double majors between COMP and MATH, PHYSICS, MAEC and RMBI. This might require overloading in some semesters.

We have not worked out study patterns for double-majoring with other BSc programs. If you are interested in pursuing another pairing, please contact the BSc COMP coordinator.
Can courses double-count towards requirements of both BSc COMP and BSc MATH?
Yes. Some MATH courses, such as MATH 2121 (111) and MATH 2421 (241), are required by the BSc COMP degree. Thus these courses count towards fulfilling requirements of both BSc MATH and BSc COMP.

In addition, the BSc COMP requires taking 5 COMP electives. Of these, with prior approval of the COMP UG Coordinator, up to 2 can be satisfied by taking computer science related courses in a non-COMP department. Some courses for which such approval has already been granted are:
- MATH 3343 (232): Combinatorial Analysis (not regularly offered)
- MATH 4321 (310): Game Theory (offered in Spring)
- MATH 4141 (315): Number Theory (offered in Fall)
- MATH 3312 (231): Numerical Analysis (offered in Fall)
- ELEC 2410 (101): Basic Electronics (offered in Fall)
Notice that the above list is not exhaustive; other non-CSE courses may also considered upon the approval of the UG director.
What are possible course substitutions?
Various course substitutions may be allowed by different departments. For example, MATH 2023 (101) can be replaced by MATH 2021 (102), MATH 2033 (201) by MATH 2031 (202), MATH 3033 (301) by MATH 3043 (204), MATH 2721 (110) by MATH 2421 (241) or any MATH 3xxx course.

The general principle is that any substitutions allowed by the department XXXX for their normal BSc programs are allowed for the double major COMP-XXXX program. Please seek approval from the XXXX UG coordinator concerning any substitutions of XXXX courses.
What will be the degree awarded for double major COMP-MATH?
Only one BSc degree will be awarded. For example, for students doing COMP+MATH:
- students whose 1st declared major was BSc COMP will get a BSc in Computer Science & Mathematics.
- students whose 1st declared major was BSc MATH will get a BSc in Mathematics & Computer Science.
How are study patterns and course registration handled?
Once enrolled in the double major, ARR will pre-register all required courses according to the study pattern of COMP-MATH(Gen Math) that appears in the Academic Calendar. This means that only the COMP+Gen Math study pattern is sure to have no time table clashes.

You should note, though, note that many double-major students, even COMP+Gen Math ones, do not follow the normal study pattern (e.g., because they want to go on exchange). In this case, there might also be time clashes.

In order to minimize the number of clashes the CSE department does provide some help with registration. In particular, our office staff will contact all registered BSc students prior to semester registration and ask for a list of all required courses (in both majors) that they need to take that semester. We then inform ARR so that are aware of your scheduling issues. This does not guarantee lack of scheduling conflicts but does help minimize them.
Is it possible to switch out of COMP-MATH and get a BEng COMP?
Yes, if you decide not to continue with the COMP-MATH double major you can switch back to BEng COMP. The extra courses in the BEng that were not required by the BSc that you will need to make up are:
- ELEC 2400/2410 (102/101), IELM 2200 (120), IELM 4110 (311), Final Year Project (COMP 4983/4984 (397/398)), Industrial training, plus 2 more COMP electives.
What are the GEE and Common Core requirements?
A student doing COMP+MATH must satisfy the requirements of both programs. The individual GEE requirements of the programs (for students admitted prior to 2010-2011) are:
- BSc COMP: 1 HUMA, 1 SOSC, 4 HUMA/SOSC/SCIE/SB&M
- BSc MATH: 1 HUMA, 1 SOSC, 1 ENGG, 1 SB&M, 2 HUMA/SOSC
Since students doing a BSc COMP+MATH are enrolled in programs in both the Schools of Science and Engineering, they do not have to take a GEE in Science or a GEE in Engineering. So, the GEE requirements are:
- BSc COMP+MATH: 1 HUMA, 1 SOSC, 1 SB&M, 2 HUMA/SOSC
Note: the above information is for students who entered (year 1) BEFORE Fall 2010. Students who entered in year 1 in Fall 2010 or afterwards have common core requirements instead of GE ones. These students will have to satisfy the common core requirements of both programs. Please see the official requirements in the program catalog. Especially note that the BSc(COMP) and all Science BSc programs include a clause stating that double major BSc/Science students may use 3 credits of free electives to substitute for 3 credits of Science & Technology (S&T) common core.
What are the COMP X900 (00X) requirement for BSc COMP majors?
Students who declare BSc COMP as the second major also need to register and pass COMP 1900/2900/3900 (001/002/003). These are 0 credit courses requiring students to meet with faculty advisors a few times a semester. Students are required to register for the appropriate section during semesters they are in residence at UST AND are registered in the program. As an example, students who enter the program in the Spring semester of year one and go on exchange in Spring semester of year two will be expected to register for COMP 1900 (Spring), COMP 2900 (Fall) and COMP 3900 (Fall and Spring semesters).
Do double major students have to take the FYP (COMP 4983/4984 (397/398))?
No. Double major students do not have to register for the final year project course. They may do a final year project or final year thesis if they want to, though. In those cases, the FYP/FYT will count as two COMP electives.
Do double major students have to register for Industrial Training (COMP 2999 (099))?
No. If a double major, i.e., BSc COMP student, does want to take an industrial training module, he/she will need to ask for special permission to register. If you are interested in pursuing this, please ask the BSc COMP coordinator for more information.
Can double major students still minor in other programs?
Technically, yes, but this would be difficult and probably require a lot of overloading.

Alumni

This section has been recently added and is under construction.

Contact

Coordinator: Prof. Pedro Sander
Email: psander 'the at symbol' cse.ust.hk

Mailing address:
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
(no zip code)

Office:
Academic Building, Room 3525
(accessible through lifts 25-26)

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