Today (15 July 2021), the NUS School of Computing hosted its Academic Day on Zoom. The Academic Day was split into 2 sessions: Faculty course briefing (morning, not for CEG freshies) and the individual course briefing (afternoon) sessions. I highly recommend attending both sessions for your respective courses. I found both of them quite informative and enlightening despite having done a bit of research of my own! Don't worry if you didn't manage to attend the sessions! I believe the profs will upload the zoom recordings on this website.
Faculty Course Briefing for Business Analytics and BComp Programmes
- 9.30am - 12 noon Webinar Session
- Faculty Briefing Presentation Slides
- Video Recording Part I and Part II
Prior to the session, I believe we were expected to go through the briefing presentation slides and video recording on our own (I only found out during the briefing itself haha), as it covered completely different topics. The presentation slides went through the general academic requirements for 4 SoC courses, whereas the webinar session was complementary to the presentation slides. I personally went through only the slides, not the video recording, as I found that the slides sufficient. I highly recommend going through the slides before ModReg Round 1!
A noteworthy point from the slides:
- There are 6 General Education (GE) Pillars / University Level Requirement Modules for students matriculating from AY2021/2022 onwards:
- Cultures and Connections -- GEC
- Critique and Expression -- GEX
- Data Literacy -- GEA
- Digital Literacy -- GEI
- Singapore Studies -- GESS
- Communities and Engagement -- GEN (Available from AY2022/2023 onwards)
You can find more detailed information for students on their page here.
- For BZA students, you'll be exempted from GEA (fulfilled by CS1010S) and GEI (fulfilled by BT1101).
- For CS students (whose home faculty is SoC), you will be exempted from GEX (fulfilled by ES2660) and GEI (fulfilled by CS1101S).
- For InfoSys students, you'll be exempted from GEI (fulfilled by CS1010J) and GEI (fulfilled by BT1101).
- For InfoSec students, you'll be exempted from GEI (fulfilled by CS1010).
As a result of the exemption, you're GE pillars would automatically be fulfilled when taking the respective modules instead. As a result, you'll have an additional 4-8MCs worth of Unrestricted Electives (UEs) to clear. This does not mean that the graduation requirement has dropped to 152-156MCs. The graduation requirement is still 160MCs (It was clarified during the webinar session).
The webinar session mostly covered some of the new initiatives that SoC was rolling out, including the Centre for Computing for Social Good and Philanthropy (CCSGP), Computing for Voluntary Welfare Organisations (CVWO), and a newer programme -- SoC Leadership Programme [Technical Management and Leadership (IT2900), registration deadline: 30 July 2021]. A representative of the NUS Computing Club likewise came to present some of the activities for freshies, including eFOP, FOW and Social Night.
Majority of the session was actually QnA. There were lots of questions and queries from students (amassed to over few hundreds!!). Students clarified their doubts and sought advice regarding the curriculum. That was essentially the whole 2.5h! So if anyone has any remaining questions regarding curriculum, the faculty has requested students to direct their questions to their email: socug@comp.nus.edu.sg.
Department Programme Briefing (Information Systems and Business Analytics Courses)
- 2.30pm-4pm Webinar Session
- Dept briefing Slides
- BZA/IS senior student sharing
This time, I wanted to be more prepared, so I briefly went through the slides before the session begun! Turns out, the briefing went through the slides with a tad big more details instead. There was a short reminder to create your SoC UNIX account to access your SoC Email here. The profs mentioned that it was very important to check those regularly (or configure such that all emails sent to one will be forwarded to another), as there will be SoC related email to your SoC email and NUS to the NUSNET email.
Again, I highly recommend checking out the slides, as there are study plans for business analytics students as well as information systems students. There is also information regarding the various internship opportunities, final year project, and the co-op program.
Here's a short summary for the business analytics portion (all photos and information taken from the slides!):
Overview of BZA Curriculum
Study Plan for A-level intake
Study Plan for Poly-level intake
These are the recommended study plan for BZA students from their respective entry routes. None of these are fixed, and you may not have to follow this exactly. Ultimately, they are just some guides to help you decide which modules to take in which semester. You get to choose which semester you want to take certain modules (especially when taking into account 2nd major / minors). Do take note that some of the more advanced modules have prerequisites, so remember to do those early on!
You may notice that in the images above, there are some modules in year 1 semester 1 that are underlined. These are the modules that will be pre-allocated to BZA students by 22 July, in time for the 1 round of ModReg (assuming you've completed your academic declaration plan and registration part 1 & 2 at least a day before!).
The rest of the curriculum could also be found on their website. It lists all the module requirements by the major and faculty, as well as specialisations and programme electives to choose from!
Another part I want to highlight would be the internship section. Both BZA and InfoSys students are required to complete a 24 week, 12 MC internship requirement / final year dissertation project, choosing from one of the following:
- Industry Internship Programme (IIP) -- 2 students across BZA/InfoSys/CS/InfoSec to form a team to complete highly structured project(s) with challenging tasks. This internship would be letter graded (A+-/B+- etc.). This 12MC internship would last 24 week from either January-June or May-October.
- Advanced Technology Attachment Programme (ATAP) -- individual, 12 MCs and across 24 week. This would be graded in CS/CU.
- NUS Overseas College Programme (NOC)
- Final Year Project (FYP) Dissertation (BT4101/CP4101) -- This would spread out across 2 semesters, accumulating a total of 12MCs. For those intending to achieve first class honours, you will need to pass this project. Taking any other internship does not grant you first class honours even if your CAP is more than 4.5. Do note that there is a condition of having a CAP 4.00 or higher after completing at least 70% (112MCs) of MC requirement of the degree programme. The selection process takes place a semester ahead of which students commence the FYP.
You can pursue more than one internship, where additional ones will count towards UEs MCs. You could also choose to self-source internships, but for these to be taken with MCs, they would need approval. It is recommended by the faculty to embark on the internship after completing the Industry Capstone Project. The faculty allows students to take up to 2 4MC modules during the internship semester (subjected to company approval). Students are also NOT allowed to do internships in the final graduating semester (would require special approval).
There was a short student sharing by the three students, covering different aspects of uni life, before it ended off with another QnA session.
And that brings us to the end of our SoC Academic Day! Once again, I really really recommend going through at least the slides for the briefings, as I found them very informative. Don't worry if you've missed the session! It was mentioned during the session that the recording webinar will be uploaded to the same website. Nonetheless, I hope you've found this helpful and thank you all for reading!