The University of New South Wales

Minutes of Meeting



Minutes of the meeting of the Computer Science and Engineering Education Committee (CSE Education Committee 18/02)
held at 1:00pm on Wednesday, 30th May 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), Maurice Pagnucco (MP) (HoS), Annie Guo (HG), Fethi Rabhi (FR), Bruno Gaeta (BG), Eric Martin (EM), Gelareh Mohammadi (GM), Jashank Jeremy (JJ), Evan Kohilas (EK)
Apologies: Wen Hu
Absent: Alan Blair, Helen Paik
In Attendance: Jo Hale, Joanna Ryan
  Present / Quorum:   6 / 5   (quorum 5 reached)

  1. Apologies and Welcome

    Meeting commenced at 1:06pm.


  2. Minutes of Previous Meeting

    No objections to the minutes of the CSE Education Committee (4 April 2018).


  3. Reports from Bodies outside CSE

    Faculty Education Committee (JAS):

    • cryptocurrency course has been approved by Faculty Board, to be run in Summer 2019
    • suite of programmes for Cybersecurity was sent back to School and requires more work

  4. Enrolment Numbers

    Enrolment numbers are growing exponentially, further stretching resources.

    Comments:

    • Timetabling has been a problem for Semester 2, 2018, and some courses have been split into streams, or allocated to smaller lecture theatres, which is not ideal.

    • Use of labs is already maxed out, may need to look to running classes on Saturdays.

    • The Dean has advised growth rate will be reduced 1%. Stuart Upton is currently looking at PG numbers.

    • The International Office is not in favour of capping student numbers for fear of agents directing students elsewhere.


  5. Program Review: GradCert/GradDip/Masters in Information Technology

    Programs to be reviewed by July/Aug. Eric advised that all of the required material will be ready.


  6. UNSW3+

    Out of 85 courses that may need to be looked at, 34 have been done so far.

    The 3 term model with 3 courses/term may be helpful for PG Coursework. Less choices in first term. Core pre-reqs can be covered in two terms, to open up options in later terms.


  7. Any Other Business

    MyCSE: currently there is no one to maintain it. Jo is working on how to update it, what should be kept and how it can best be maintained.

    MP advised focus needs to be placed on looking at what could be a better educational experience, could we be doing it a better way? In hiring it would be good to look for education focused staff.

    It was noted that QILT (Quality indicators for learning and teaching) survey results show CSE is not doing well, but the survey does encompass non-School relevant factors, such as public transport.

    Morri asked if it would be possible to identify students who are doing innovative work, as it would be good for staff to hear about what students are doing.


  8. Meeting Close

    The meeting closed at 2:15pm.