COMP 4900 Academic and Professional Development (Fall 2020)

This course is for academic and professional development of students in the programs offered by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Activities may include seminars, workshops, advising and sharing sessions, interaction with faculty and teaching staff, and discussion with student peers or alumni. Graded P/PP/F. It is a required course for both COMP and COSC curriculum.

• Develop relationships with faculty members and staff;
• Examine the value of and assume ownership of his/her education;
• Become self-directed in planning and accomplishing short and long-term academic goal;
• Identify short and long-term career and personal plans and aspirations and work towards these by establishing realistic development plans.

You are registered to COMP 4900 during your whole stay in CSE. Its grade for each term is PP (Permitted to Proceed). The P (Pass) grade will be given at the final term before you graduate.

Failure of fulfilling the above requirement in any term may lead to an 'F' grade in COMP 4900 for that term, and be permanently recorded in your transcript. Please be reminded that it is a required course and an 'F' grade will affect your graduation according to university policy.

Each student is assigned to a faculty academic advisor, and followed up by a department academic counselor. In order to "pass" the course, you are required to meet with your faculty advisor and attend seminars during your undergraduate study.

• First term in CSE (e.g. Year 2 Fall): Your respective faculty academic advisor will initiate a welcome meeting in a context of social gathering. Meeting will be arranged in Sep or Oct depending on the schedule of your faculty academic advisor. You are also required to attend the department UG orientation and one seminar. PP grade will be assigned upon successful fulfilment of course requirement.
• All in-between terms in CSE (e.g. Year 2 Spring to Year 4 Fall): Attend two seminars each term for COMP students, and one seminar each term for COSC students. PP grade will be assigned upon successful fulfilment of course requirement.
• Last term in CSE (e.g. Year 4 Spring): You don't need to attend any seminars. Instead, you are required to fill the online graduation survey, which is usually sent out in mid-May. You will also be invited to an optional casual gathering (e.g. tea gathering or graduation dinner) in late Apr or early May. P grade will be assigned upon successful fulfilment of course requirement, and facilitate your graduation.

You're always welcomed to attend any seminars you feel interested. You only need to submit reflection report when using the seminar to fulfil seminar attendance requirement.

Further clarifications of the COMP 4900 course requirements due to the various study pathways taken by students:

• Semester with 'leave' status: You will not register to any HKUST courses, including COMP 4900, in a term with 'leave' status. You don't need to attend any seminars in that term.
• Graduation in Year 4 Summer: COMP 4900 is not offered in Summer term. You need to get P grade in Spring to facilitate your Summer graduation.
  1. Since ARRO Summer preliminary graduation list is not yet available in Spring, we'll rely on your self-declaration of Summer graduation plan. You'll receive an email from COMP 4900 in early May for that.
  2. You don't need to attend any seminars in Spring, and only need to fill the online graduation survey. Upon successful declaration of Summer graduation plan and fulfilment of course requirement, P grade will be assigned to COMP 4900 Spring.
• Graduation in Year 5 Fall: Since the department doesn't run graduation survey in Fall, you'll have to attend two seminars in Year 4 Spring and one seminar in Year 5 Fall.
• Graduation in Year 5 Spring: You need to attend two seminars in all in-between terms. Year 5 Spring is your last term in CSE with only graduation survey requirement.
• Graduation in Year 5 Summer, Year 6 Fall or Year 6 Spring: the requirement is the same as Year 4 Summer, Year 5 Fall or Year 5 Spring, respectively.
• DE students: You usually join the department in Fall term. Regardless your year status (e.g. Year 2 or 3), we'll still treat the term as your first term CSE. You will need to meet the faculty academic advisor, attend the department UG orientation and one seminar.
• Program transfer: if your program transfer to COMP/COSC is effective after the beginning of the term, you'll be registered to COMP4900 starting from next term. Check more details in FAQ.
• Double major with COMP as 2^nd major: You may use "Academic and Profession Development" course(s) offered by 1^st major to fulfil COMP 4900 requirement, subject to approval. Apply for deviation from curriculum with GR-23 form and send to CSE admin office. Check more details in FAQ.

For students with unsatisfactory academic progress (UAP), you're required to have individual meeting with your academic advisor and/or departmental academic advising staff every term.

Seminars organized under COMP 4900 are scheduled on Wednesday 6pm - 7pm. The attendance of a seminar is valid when you

• Arrive the seminar venue before 6:10pm and take attendance with the TA who's in charge, and
• Submit a reflection report for that seminar in time and get a Pass grade. Deadline of reflection report submission is within one week of the seminar. Minimum length of the report is 200 words.

You can upload your reflection report and check your COMP 4900 seminar attendance in Canvas.

Here is the reflection report template, and some sample reflection reports for your reference.

Seminars offered by ENGG 2010 can be double-counted to fulfill COMP 4900 seminar requirement.

Kindly note

1. ENGG 2010 is managed by School, and the attendance is passed to CSE at the end of the term to consolidate. Please send inquiries of ENGG 2010 seminar to E2I.
2. COSC students can't use ENGG 2010 seminars to fulfill COMP 4900 requirements since they're not officially registered to ENGG 2010.

CSE Information Seminars

To facilitate your study, the department offers information seminars, including department UG orientation (compulsory for Year 2 students), Final Year Project (FYP), job hunting, internship and exchange, IT job markets, CV writing training, etc. List of CSE information seminars:

CSE Talk Series to General CSE UG students

Interesting general talks by our CSE professors, alumni, or students to share their research, profession or experience with fellow students. List of CSE UG talks:

Dr. Cindy Li () is the COMP 4900 coordinator for Fall 2020. Inquiries of COMP 4900 attendance can be sent to Jimmy Wong ().