Last updated 14.01.09

Welcome to Software Engineering at UNSW
Enrolment Advice for First Year Software Engineering Students

Contents

General
Accepting your offer
myUNSW Speak: programs, courses, plans
Units of Credit
Overloading
Things you need to do for enrolment

The Standard Program
The Standard Program
Understanding the program
Entry at beginning of year
Mid-year entry
Mathematics
Mathematics 1 assumed knowledge
Higher Mathematics 1
Special Talented Student tutorial Why should I do higher mathematics?
Can I drop back to normal mathematics?
Is higher mathematics important within the BE SE program?
First Year Computing
Combined and Concurrent Programs
Free Electives
What's the Purpose of the Free Elective?
How do I decide on my Free Elective?
When should I do my Free Elective?
What do I do if I can't decide?
Free Electives list
Summer Semester
Planning for combined programs
Software Engineering/Science
Software Engineering/Arts
Software Engineering/Commerce
Software Engineering/Biomedical Engineering
Summer Semester
Any more questions?

General

Accepting your offer

You will have been made an offer for one of the following programs:

In addition you may transfer during enrolment from 3648 to:

Transfer to 3653 or 3749 must be done through UAC.

You can transfer back to 3648 at any time.

myUNSW Speak: programs, courses, plans

At UNSW we use terms that may have a different meaning to what you are accustomed. This has come about because of poor software engineering of the information system used at UNSW, but that's another story.

Semester

a semester is a period of time. At UNSW there are two main semesters, each approximately 14 weeks in length. There are also two short semesters: summer semester, and winter semester. The latter is very, very short. Sometimes semesters will be called sessions.

Course

this is the term given to what you might call a subject. Courses are the units of study that you undertake. In the main semesters you will normally be taking 4 courses.

Program

a program is a collection of courses that usually leads to a degree. For example, Software Engineering is a program that leads to the degree BE Software Engineering. The program code for that program is 3648.

In some places, what we call programs would be called courses. You can see how this can get confusing. To try to avoid confusion the advice on this website will consistently use course and program as defined here.

Plan

Plans identify areas of study within programs. For example, the combined program BE(SE) BSc has plan SENGA13651 and BE(SE) BA has plan SENGA13652. Within the BE BA a major in Chinese Studies would be CHINA13652. not a course, SENGC13648.

Units of Credit

The load of courses is measured in Units of Credit, which will be abbreviated here by uoc. Courses are generally either 6uoc or 3uoc. A normal full-time load is 24uoc per semester. The normal workload expectation is 20-25 hours per semester for each unit of credit, including class contact hours, preparation and time spent on all assessable work. So, a 6uoc course represents 120-150 hours of work per semester. However, not all courses are equal, so units are not necessarily equal.

Overloading

The normal full-time load is 24uoc/semester. You can overload by 3uoc without question, but if you want to overload by 6uoc or more you must get approval from the program director. For such approval you should have a weighted average (WAM) of 65% or more. Overloads of more than 6uoc are not encouraged.

A load of less than 18uoc/semester is called a part-time load. This can affect visa requirements for overseas students.

Things you need to do for enrolment

Choose

between higher and ordinary Mathematics. Consult a Mathematics adviser, if you can't decide on the level of mathematics.

Choose

a free elective.

Enrol

in a valid set of courses within the Software Engineering program.

Ensure

that all courses are timetabled in the desired semesters without clashes.

Check

your personal information: address, phone number, etc are correct.

Check

your program code and plan number. The standard Software Engineering Program code is 3648 and the plan number is SENGB13648. If you intend to take one of the combined programs, the program code and plan is listed in table 4.

Read the yellow form (http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/people/studentoffice/policies/yellowform.html)

The yellow sheet details the conditions you agree to when you are issued a computer login by the School of Computer Science & Engineering. Please read this sheet so you are aware of the rules and your obligations. You will also be asked to acknowledge receipt of this yellow sheet online before your computer account can be activated.

Consult

a Software Engineering adviser, if you have any questions about the program.

The Standard Program

Understanding the program

Programs are represented in the handbook as a progression of courses within semesters, within years. The Software Engineering program is represented in the handbook, and in places on this website, as a sequence of 8 semesters across 4 years. However, this is not necessarily the best way to understand the requirements of the program. It is perhaps easier to understand the requirements for the program in terms of core requirements and elective requirements as shown in the following table.

1. Since the revision in 2003, Project Management has changed from a 3uoc course (COMP3710) to a 6uoc course (COMP3711). Consequently the SE electives have had to be cut from 48uoc to 45uoc.

In the handbook entry, the Core and Electives are arranged in stages. However, courses may be arranged in any suitable order, subject to satisfaction of prerequisites and corequisites. It makes some sense to take the courses shown in stages 1&2 in the first two years. Of course, some arrangements may produce timetable conflicts.

Notice that some courses have not been assigned specifically to S1 or S2. In those cases students are free to construct a program that best suits their purposes.

Entry at beginning of year

Stage 1 of the standard Software Engineering program is shown inthe following table.

This is ``idealized'', and some variations are possible.

Mid-year entry

Stage 1 of the standard Software Engineering program for mid-year entry is shown inthe following table. Notes:

• Higher Mathematics 1A is not available in semester 2, unfortunately. Thus the discussion on each of higher mathematics is irrelevant for mid-year entry students.
• This is ``idealized'', and some variations are possible.
• COMP1927 may be able to be done in the summer semester.

Free Electives

The Software Engineering program contains 2 free electives: 1 in each of years 1 & 2; and 8 professional (Software Engineering) electives in years 3 & 4.

What's the Purpose of the Free Elective?

The free elective is used slightly differently depending on the type of program you are doing.

Standard program

The elective does not play a specific role in the Software Engineering program; it is your chance to pursue a course in an area in which you are interested or which you would like to develop. They can be used for ``one off'' courses, or for prerequisites needed for courses to be done later in the program.

Combined program

In the combined programs the free electives are exploited to pursue courses in the other program. In this case the free electives should be used wisely to ensure a smooth progress through both programs. For more information on combined programs see Combined and Concurrent Programs.

How do I decide on my Free Elective?

For combined programs the answer to this question will be influenced by the major stream that you are studying in the other program. The answer below is concerned with the standard program.

Broaden your knowledge and experience

We strongly encourage you to use the free electives to broaden your experience. Don't simply choose yet another computing course; you will be doing lots of those, try to study something different.

Prepare for later courses

You might want to do some course in third year that is not normally accessible to Software Engineers, for example an ELEC course, and the free electives can be used to take the prerequisites for those courses. This may require quite a bit of thought.

Don't rush

Some of the above options may require some thought and research. If you are going to do the free elective in semester 2, then you have a considerable amount of time to make your final decision. You could enrol initially in a course would be satisfactory and change your enrolment if you find something you would prefer to do.

When should I do my Free Elective?

The elective is shown as a 6uoc course in semester 2. Alternatively, you might want to choose:

1. a 6uoc course running only in semester 1;
2. 23uoc courses both running in semester 2;
3. 23uoc courses one running in semester 1 and the other in semester 2.

These are all OK. If option 1 is chosen the semesters can be rebalanced by moving INFS1603 to semester 2. Option 3 will lead to some unbalance between the semesters even if INFS1603 is moved to semester 2. 3uoc of overload is allowed, but you must be willing to accept any consequences. Perhaps it might be worth knowing that, before the first revision of SE, stage 1 contained 3uoc more load, and SE students did not find the load excessive.

What if I want to take my Free Elective in Semester 1?

INFS1603 and MATH1081 may run also in semester 2. In that event either of these courses could be switched to semester 2 allowing the free elective to be taken in semester 1.

What do I do if I can't decide?

If you are unsure of your elective choice, then you can enrol in a reasonable choice and change it later. For a semester 2 elective you have until the start of semester 2 (end of July) to vary your enrolment. Even for a semester 1 elective you have until the start of semester 1 to vary your enrolment. The only qualification to the above is that some courses have quotas, and hence they could be full at some later date.

Summer Semester

A few courses run during the summer semester, December to February, 2008-2009, and this may give you some flexibility. There is also a winter semester, June-July. You cannot enrol in courses in either of these semesters at this time.

Mathematics

Mathematics 1 assumed knowledge

Table 3 shows the HSC levels recommended for particular mathematics courses.

Table 3: Assumed knowledge for Mathematics

HSC Maths Recommendation Maths Extension 1 Extension 2       180 MATH1141   145 176-179 MATH1141 if keen, otherwise MATH1131 90 115-144 150-175 MATH1131   100-114 100-149 Suggest Bridging or MATH1011 first 60-89 100 100 Bridging or MATH1011 first Foundation Studies Recommendation M3C M3P     MATH1141   - MATH1141 if keen, otherwise MATH1131 - MATH1131 Suggest Bridging or MATH1011 first

If you don't meet the recommended level for MATH1131 Mathematics 1A, then you should do

• MATH1011 General Mathematics 1B in semester 1,
• MATH1131 Mathematics 1A in semester 2, and
• MATH1081 Discrete Mathematics in semester 2.
• MATH1231 Mathematics 1B will have to be deferred to stage 2.

Please note: you should consult a mathematics adviser to determine which mathematics course you should do.

If there is any doubt about your suitability for any Mathematics course you must consult the School of Mathematics advisers.

Higher Mathematics 1

The School of Mathematics offers two levels of mathematics: the normal level, MATH1131 Mathematics 1A and MATH1231 Mathematics 1B; and the higher level MATH1141 Higher Mathematics 1A and MATH1241 Higher Mathematics 1B. See table 3 for assumed knowledge.

The School of Mathematics encourages students who have the appropriate level of mathematics to take higher mathematics.

Special Talented Student tutorial

In 2009 the School of Mathematics have set up a special tutorial for talented students. See http://www.timetable.unsw.edu.au/2009/MATH1141.html#S1-3808

Why should I do higher mathematics?

Can I drop back to normal mathematics?

Is higher mathematics important within the BE SE program?

First Year Computing

The standard software engineering program has

in first year.

Despite these courses having the word Higher in their name, they are not higher courses in the sense of Higher Mathematics, confusing as that might seem. They are the standard computing courses for Software Engineering and other computing programs.

Thus there is no necessity for guidelines for software engineering students taking these courses.

You may notice that there are two other courses, COMP1911 and COMP1921, which are the lower versions of COMP1917 and COMP1927, respectively.

Please note: while it is possible to take COMP1911 and COMP1921 if you found COMP1917 or COMP1927 too difficult, the Software Engineering program requires COMP2911 and the prerequisite for that course is COMP1927. There is planned to be a bridging course from COMP1921 to COMP2911, but that may slow your progression.

Combined and Concurrent Programs

There are three combined programs with Software Engineering: with Science (BE BSc), with Arts (BE BA), with Commerce (BE BCom) and one concurrent program with BioMedical Engineering (BE MBiomedE).

If you wish to transfer to either the Science or Arts combined program you may transfer immediately. If you wish to transfer to the BE MBiomedE or BE BCom combined programs you must apply through UAC, but you can start taking courses that are appropriate to the intended program. See the Programs and Transfer pages or talk to the Software Engineering adviser.

If enrolled in a combined program with Science, Arts or Commerce, you must decide the area in which you intend to major.

For more information on the rules covering the combined programs, please see the Programs page.

Planning for combined programs

If you are thinking of transfer into a combined program, but don't want to transfer yet, you should plan to use the standard program effectively:

Free electives

use your free electives to do courses in the planned combined program;

General education

since combined programs are exempt from general education you should defer general education until you have decided whether you want to transfer or not. In the case of BE BA and BE BCom it would be OK to take 6uoc of Arts or Commerce, respectively, which could be substituted for 6uoc of General Education in the event you decide not to transfer. You cannot use Science courses to substitute for General Education.

Software Engineering/Science

The following table shows stage 1 of the generic SE/Science program.

Mathematics or Physics

For a Mathematics or Physics major an appropriate choice for the stage 1 free elective is Mathematics 1B. This is probably the best option.

Another option for Physics would be to take PHYS1121 Physics 1A in semester 2 and Mathematics 1B in the summer semester. It is desirable to have completed Mathematics 1B before stage 2, so the simplest choice it to take Mathematics 1B as the elective.

You need to appreciate that studying towards some other major in Science may require the course sequence to be varied.

Psychology

The simplest choice for Psychology is to take PSYC1001 in stage 2.

Software Engineering/Arts

The following table shows stage 1 of the generic SE/Arts program.

Languages

Languages usually have 3 streams, A, B and C, that depend on your previous experience with the language. Each level of a particular stream runs in semester 1/semester 2 pairs and hence enrolling in such a pair in stage 1 will mean overloading by 6uoc in semester 2. This would normally be discouraged, but you should talk to the adviser. You will also need to talk to the Arts Faculty to determine which stream you should do. The normal option would be for you to take some other elective in stage 1 and defer the language courses until stage 2. Possible stage 1 electives include:

Sociology

In Sociology a start can be made in stage 1 and you should choose Level 1 Sociology courses for your stage 1 Arts electives.

Software Engineering/Commerce

The following table shows stage 1 of the generic SE/Commerce program.

If you think you may wish to transfer to this program, the best advice is to follow the BE BCom program and take accounting (ACCT1501) for your free elective in first year.

Software Engineering/Biomedical Engineering

The following table shows stage 1 of the SE/MBiomedE program.

For further details on General Education refer to the General Education handbook, and observe the exclusions listed in table 9.

Summer Semester

In planning courses for a combined program it might be possible to use the summer semester. For example, COMP1927 Higher Data Structures and Algorithms runs in the summer, so it would be possible to replace COMP1927 by some other course in semester 2 and ``catch up'' on COMP1927 in the summer semester.

Free Electives list

The following table shows some courses that could be chosen for free electives in stage 1 or stage 2. In general, free electives will be chosen from Science, Engineering, Arts or Commerce. It should be remembered that this is only a partial list of electives; any courses, for which you satisfy the pre- and co-requisites may be chosen. There are no other restrictions.

Any more questions?

If you have any questions at all please email

Site maintained by webmistress@cse.unsw.edu.au
Please read the UNSW Copyright & Disclaimer Statement