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Monash University

Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Computer Science

Course code: 2672 ~ Course abbreviation: BA/BCompSc ~ Total credit points required: 204 ~ 4 years full-time, 8 years part-time ~ Managing faculty: Arts

Study mode and course location

On-campus (Clayton)

Course description

This double degree course allows students to qualify with both the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Computer Science degrees.

The Bachelor of Arts is a general, flexible degree which allows students to match academic interests with career aspirations to create a personalised course progression. Studying humanities will develop general knowledge and specific intellectual skills relating to human thought and relations, such as the way we communicate or how the past has affected the present. Social science analyses and explains societies and the relationships of individuals within those societies.

Computer science is concerned with the science of computing, the scientific design and use of computer hardware and software in all these areas. Computer science is a broad discipline, encompassing software design and programming, the actual computing machinery, the theoretical foundations, and all of the applications of computing which pervade our modern society. This course provides an in-depth study of computing with an emphasis on the software, hardware and theory of computation to solve commercial, scientific and technical problems. It also explores software design and programming, computer hardware, the theoretical foundations of computing and its present and potential applications.

Course objectives

Students graduating from this double-degree program will have the talents of a computer technologist along with highly developed verbal, communication and visual skills. This degree will therefore give graduates an edge in a wide range of employment opportunities related to the areas of information technology and the arts, humanities or social sciences.

Course structure

Students must complete 96 points in the Bachelor of Arts component and 108 points in the Bachelor of Computer Science component.

Areas of study

For information on arts majors and minors offered, refer to the `Areas of study' section on the Arts faculty website at http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/current/coursework/study_areas/.

Course requirements

Arts component

(a) an arts major (48 points)

(b) an arts minor (24 points)

(c) another first-year sequence (12 points)

(d) further arts (12 points)

or

(a) an arts major (48 points)

(b) a second arts major (48 points).

In the 96 points of arts, students must undertake one of the following units which will substitute for the `discipline context' unit FIT1003 (IT in organizations) in the computer science core:

  • CHB1010 Ethics, biotechnology and genetics: current issues in bioethics
  • EIL1020 Introduction to English as an international language: form and structure (for non English speaking background students)
  • ENH1260 Professional writing (for students with English language background)
  • LIN2490/LIN3490 Literacies and communication: education, media and cyberspace
  • PHL2001 Ethics at work: ethical issues in professional life
  • PHL2210 Thinking about science
  • PSY2112 Organisational psychology

Computer science component

(a) 36 points of FIT common core units:

(b) 42 points of Computer Science core units:

  • FIT1008 Computer science
  • FIT2004 Algorithms and data structures
  • FIT2014 Theory of computation
  • FIT2022 Computer systems II
  • FIT3014 Analysis and design of algorithms
  • FIT3077 Software engineering: architecture and design

and one of FIT3036 Computer science project or FIT3038 Software engineering project

(c) Two core mathematics units:

  • MAT1841 Mathematics for computer science II
  • MAT1830 Mathematics for computer science I

(d) 18 points of Bachelor of Computer Science electives comprising no more than 6 points of second-year-level electives and no less than 12 points of third-year-level electives.

Students cannot graduate from either degree until they have satisfied the above requirements and successfully completed studies to the value of 144 points. Students undertaking the above double-degree program are permitted to count up to 48 points of the other faculty's component towards those 144 points. Students must also complete at least 36 points at third-year level to meet Bachelor of Arts requirements.

Note that students have a maximum of 10 years to complete this course.

Approved course variations of the BArts/BCS course structure:

Students transferring from other faculty programs and students entering with credit for prior studies or learning will be permitted the following course variation:

FIT1004 (Database) may be substituted for FIT2010 (Database)

  • FIT1005 (Networks and data communications) may be substituted for FIT2008 (Networks and data communications)
  • FIT2002 IT (Project management) may be substituted for FIT3086 (IT project management), in which case all three computer science elective units must be taken at level three.

Contact details

http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/current/coursework/contact_us/