Monash University Handbook 2010 Undergraduate - Course

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, and the scientific design and use of computer hardware and software. 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.

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.

This course consists of 96 points in the arts component and 108 points in the computer science component.

Areas of study

For information on majors and minors, refer to the 'Areas of study' section in this Handbook at http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/aos/index-ug-byfaculty-arts.html.

Arts component

Students compete:

(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)

As part of the arts component students must include one of:

• 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

Students complete:

(a.) FIT common core units (36 points):

• FIT1001 Computer systems
• FIT1002 Computer programming
• FIT2001 Systems analysis and design
• FIT2008 Networks and data communications
• FIT2010 Database
• FIT3086 Project management

(b.) computer science core units (42 points):

• FIT1008 Computer science
• FIT2004 Algorithms and data structures
• FIT2014 Theory of computation
• FIT2022 Computer systems 2
• FIT3014 Analysis and design of algorithms
• FIT3077 Software engineering: Architecture and design
• one of FIT3036 Computer science project, or FIT3038 Software engineering project

(c.) two core mathematics units (12 points):

• MAT1841 Mathematics for computer science 1
• MAT1830 Mathematics for computer science 2

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

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 variations:

• FIT1004 Database may be substituted for FIT2010 (Database)
• FIT1005 Networks and data communications may be substituted for FIT2008 Networks and data communications
• FIT2002 Project management may be substituted for FIT3086 Project management, in which case all three computer science elective units must be taken at level three.

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

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Computer Science