Proposal for Integrated 4-Year Honours degree in Computer Science, and in Artificial Intelligence

1. Proposal.

   The proposal is to (re-)introduce an integrated 4-year Honours program called "Bachelor of Advanced Computer Science(Honours)" (or similar) as well as a specialized 4-year Honours degree in Artificial Intelligence. The requirements for these degrees would be as follows:
   (a) Students would need to complete the requirements for the existing 3-Year BSc(CS) degree before commencing the Honours year (and enroling in Thesis A).
   (b) Students must complete at least 5 COMP[469]xxx courses during their 4 years of enrolment (i.e. not necessarily in the final year of enrolment). These courses are in addition to the 5 COMP[3469]xxx courses required for the 3-year degree.
   (c) The Artificial Intelligence degree would be similar in structure, but would have additional constraints in terms of including a certain number of AI-related courses.
   (d) For both of these degrees, we might allow students to substitute one or two approved courses from another school, in place of a high-level COMP course.

2. Motivation.

   The existing system (since 2014) requires all 5 courses in the Honours year to be COMP[469]xxx. Feedback from (especially, top-performing) students is that this is too rigid. Enrolments have dropped since the change, and top students in particular are transferring to MATH, or to USyd which offers greater flexibility.

3. Name of new degree(s).

   Our preferred option is:
   (a) Create a new degree called "Bachelor of Advanced Computer Science(Honours)", with an optional specialization: "Bachelor of Advanced Computer Science(Honours)(Artificial Intelligence)". These would be similar in structure to the existing Bachelor of Advanced Science(Honours), but would be administered independently from it. (https://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/programs/current/3962)
   (other specializations, such as Security, could be added later)
   The other options are:
   (b) Create one or both of these as specializations within the existing Bachelor of Advanced Science(Honours). In this case, we would need to include SCIF1131 as a core course. There is also a "Maturity Rule" which would be completely unworkable for us unless it is repealed or ignored (30 UoC completed before enroling in a 2nd year course, 70 UoC completed before enrolling in a 3rd year course).
   (c) Create the AI degree also as a standalone program. In this case, we would need to find a suitable name, e.g. "Bachelor of Advanced Artificial Intelligence(Honours)".