The University of New South Wales

Minutes of Meeting



Minutes of the meeting of the Computer Science and Engineering Education Committee (CSE Education Committee 18/01)
held at 1:00pm on Wednesday, 4th April 2018, in Room 103 (HoS Meeting Room), Computer Science Building.

Enquiries concerning these minutes should be directed to John Shepherd, extension +61293856494, jas@cse.unsw.edu.au.

John Shepherd
Committee Chair

Present: John Shepherd (JAS) (chair), Annie Guo (HG), Fethi Rabhi (FR), Bruno Gaeta (BG), Eric Martin (EM), Gelareh Mohammed (GM), Jashank Jeremy (JJ), Evan Kohilas (EK)
Apologies: Maurice Pagnucco
Absent: Andrew Taylor, Alan Blair, Helen Paik, Wen Hu
In Attendance: Ron van der Meyden (RvdM), Richard Buckland (RB), Nina Rodgers (NR), Joanna Ryan
  Present / Quorum:   5 / 7   (quorum 5 reached)

  1. Apologies and Welcome

    Meeting commenced at 1:06pm.

    Apologies reeived from: Maurice Pagnucco


  2. Minutes of Previous Meeting

    No objections to the minutes of the CSE Education Committee (27 October 2017).

    Business arising from minutes:

    • synchronise pre-reqs between AIMS and the Handbook ... completed in April 2018
    • how other universities structure Honours ... ongoing
    • how many people transfer BE->BSc to graduate ... ongoing
    • write an updated FAQ for academic staff ... ongoing
    • converting double-badged courses to hybrid ... ongoing
    • policy for Supp Exams ... ongoing
    • academic staff induction ... ran in O-week 18s1

  3. Reports from Bodies outside CSE

    Faculty Education Committee (JAS):

    • no proposals from CSE (for a change)
    • UNSW3+ course readiness is being handled by Lyndon Zahra
    • UNSW3+ course re-development is being handled by Steven Parker
    • UNSW3+ Course Readiness forms are needed NOW

    Academic Board (RB):
    • nobody on Academic Board thinks UNSW3+ will be a problem

  4. New Course: Cryptocurrency and Distributed Ledger Technology

    RvdM presented the case for and details of a course in Cryptocurrency and Distributed Ledger Technology.

    Discussion:

    • need to change to a hybrid course code to allow both PG+UG enrolments
    • editing needed:
      • RB: prereqs: 3441 should be [39]441/6[48]41
      • BG: "computer science" used in reference to School; should be cs+e
      • JAS: in Learning Outcomes, "understand" is frowned upon
      • BG: is "byzantine" a technical term in this context?
    • RvdM: course is fairly technical; GenEds in the area already available?
    • RvdM: content includes: open blockchains (currency) plus different networks, different protocols, etc., plus application space (Ethereum, smart contracts, etc.)
    • JAS: does 6[48]41 provide sufficient pre-req knowledge
      • RB: yes: zero knowledge protocols (0KP), hashing, cryptography
      • RvdM: none of the CSE theory courses go quite far enough
    • JJ: is there overlap with COMP9243?
      • RvdM: will consult with convenor of that course
    • EM: make it an ADK!
    • JJ: MATH3411 as a pre-req?
      • RvdM: probably not a useful pre-req, theory is too high level
    • EM: is the 48UOC pre-req for COMP6441 problematic for PG students?
      • RB: COMP6441 pre-req for PGs will be fixed soon
      • EK: does it need a data structures background (e.g. COMP9024)
    • EM: are assessments individual or group-based?
      • all assessments are individual
    • JAS: get relevant consultations and we'll send to EPC

    Action: Proposal (with minor changes) approved to go forward to Engineering Programs Committee.


  5. New Programs: GradCert/GradDip/Masters in Cyber Security

    RB presented the case for and details of PG awards in Cyber Security.

    Discussion:

    • RB: we always said we didn't want a Security degree, but other Unis are doing it (even without staff to lecture it), so ..
    • RB: people want to take the UNSW courses, but employers won't pay for them unless there's a certificate at the end
    • RB: so we propose 24UOC GradCert, 48 UOC GradDip, 72 UOC Masters (comparable in size to what other Unis are offering)
    • EM: seems to have OS as core?
      • RB: OS or Networks, and they'll need to complete chain of pre-reqs
    • EM: what's COMP9025,   RB: combination of COMP9021 and COMP9024
    • EM: projects look compulsory
      • RB: articulation from GC to GD requires one project; from GD to Masters requires two
      • RB: goal is to avoid criticism that "it's just all theory"; provides capstone
    • EM: what are ZEIT courses?
      • RB: courses offered by UNSW Canberra
    • EK: OS as a prereq for Digital Forensics?
      • RB: that would need to be fixed: drop OS in 6445
    • EM: it can't possibly be done full-time
      • richardb: most of the target students can't do it full-time anyway
      • EM: UNSW doesn't like programs like that?
      • RB: should we attach a warning?
    • JAS: who's teaching all of these courses?
      • RB: industry expects, unfortunately
      • EM: don't get good feedback on them
      • JAS: what if they disappear?
      • RB: we are recording this year's offerings aggressively
      • RB: we also have two groups of academics to teach them
    • EK: are there one or two project courses?
      • RB: a 6 UoC or a 12 UoC project, to taste
      • JAS: what's the course code for the projects?
      • RB: jas or Stuart Upton to create those courses
      • NR: Stuart Upton
    • emartin: will it be accredited?
      • RB: accreditation is probably not needed, and isn't really looked for
    • EK: could a CSE graduate take these programs?
      • RB: probably not possible to do if you've already done COMPY1
    • JAS: some details need cleaning up in the proposals

    Action: Proposals (with changes) approved to go forward to Faculty Programs Committee.


  6. Revised Programs: GradCert/GradDip/Masters in Information Technology

    JAS discussed the proposed changes to the PG course programs.

    Rationale for changes:

    • new entry requirements (MATHs up to level 2) don't work
      • too difficult for Admissions to work out; many cases bounced to us
      • allowed in some "under-qualified" students (low-grade maths, but "level 2")
    • need simple rules for Admission to apply, especially if Student Office staff are cut

  7. UNSW3+

    JAS: it looks like official UNSW3+ and CSE versions of course offerings are now in synch.

    JAS: a little bit of reorganising offerings now has T1 and T2 looking similarly heavy, but T3 is heavier than the other two.


  8. Any Other Business

    EK: when are we changing double-badged courses to hybrid codes?
    JAS: sometime ...