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University Which university for Software Engineering (SE)?, Seeking advice, guidance and suggestions

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TSLightKeyDarkBlade
post Jan 6 2017, 02:40 AM, updated 9y ago

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UPDATE 2:
Currently studying at Monash now.

UPDATE:
I've changed my mind to Computer Science (CS).



Hello.

As you can read from the topic, I'm currently seeking help on the matter of university choice for Software Engineering (SE). My apologies in advance for the very long thread. blush.gif I also apologise if this has been asked many times before and it gets boring.

I've finished my A-Level at UCSI and has gotten the result which is just about average. The subjects I took are Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. The ones with the best grades are Mathematics and Physics; and the worst being Chemistry. The result goes by BBCE.

I've wasted quite some time thinking about what course to study and which university to enroll in. I've finally narrowed down my course of choice to SE (previously was thinking about Mechanical Engineering the most but I had second thoughts). The problem now is the place of education.

The current top choices on my list now are Monash and Nottingham but feel free to suggest me otherwise by giving me your reasons. From what I can gather, private universities like KDU, APU, MMU, UNITEN, etc come up the most in discussions regarding IT-related courses like SE. I'm also currently seeking private universities in KL and Selangor states only.

The following is my thoughts and knowledge on some universities in the top of my list.
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Those are basically the universities that I favour the most. Others that are not so much are:
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «


That's basically it. Of course, there are some other universities but I have almost zero interest in them. Again, my apologies for such a long thread. For those of you who persevered until here, I really appreciate it. sweat.gif

The list is roughly sorted by personal preference. So I need help and guidance on this. icon_question.gif You may notice that I tend to avoid universities with government link. APU may be one but I can still accept that.

If I have any wrong views and comments on any listed university, do tell me. I'll gladly accept any advice regarding this in terms of SE or IT-related courses from students, alumni, even lecturers or anyone who has worked at these universities, or anyone with any experience regarding these universities whether it be yourself or your friends and relatives.

I really, really do appreciate any willing help. biggrin.gif

This post has been edited by LightKeyDarkBlade: Mar 8 2017, 03:32 AM
TSLightKeyDarkBlade
post Jan 10 2017, 01:04 AM

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Bump. sad.gif icon_question.gif

I have some updates.

I'm starting to not favour APU more and more even though it was my top choice previously. It's good in IT-related but I'm seeing negative comments about it especially the lecturers and its teaching quality. So I'll be on my own (perhaps along with some friends) but I'm not really the type to rely on myself.

Still don't know much about Taylor's in IT-related as I don't really see Taylor's popping up in discussions related to IT courses, despite the guy saying that it's "quite popular in IT" when I went there the other day.

A few of my friends recommended me Nottingham. It's pretty expensive but still affordable by me as long as it's not on the level of Monash for the SE course. I'll also have to wait for the intake in September, but all of that would be no issue if it's really worth it. Plus, if I decide to reconsider SE, I can still go for Computer Science (CS) which is still almost the same but more theoretical, and Nottingham's CS is accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS).

So I'm still seeking advice on this. APU can be dropped from my consideration now, I guess. I just need more info on Taylor's enough for me to decide on that. Nottingham could me my top choice now but I still need more advice. The others may not be considered anymore but it still depends.

This post has been edited by LightKeyDarkBlade: Jan 10 2017, 01:09 AM
Etolen
post Jan 10 2017, 01:28 AM

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young_97 should be able to answer a few of your questions regarding Taylor's IT courses as he is also a student under SoCIT at Taylors. Fyi I am also a student at Taylors but different major haha
TSLightKeyDarkBlade
post Jan 10 2017, 01:57 AM

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QUOTE(Etolen @ Jan 10 2017, 01:28 AM)
young_97 should be able to answer a few of your questions regarding Taylor's IT courses as he is also a student under SoCIT at Taylors. Fyi I am also a student at Taylors but different major haha
*
Okay, thanks for the tag. I appreciate it.

Well, what do you think about Taylor's? The environment, food, etc. I know you're not majoring in IT but maybe about your lecturers as well? So that I can at least have some insight on the lecturers in general.
Etolen
post Jan 10 2017, 11:31 AM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 10 2017, 01:57 AM)
Okay, thanks for the tag. I appreciate it.

Well, what do you think about Taylor's? The environment, food, etc. I know you're not majoring in IT but maybe about your lecturers as well? So that I can at least have some insight on the lecturers in general.
*
Environment is better than Monash IMO (visited both campuses before enrolling). Food err kinda on the pricey side but I guess klang valley food pricing is around there? Lecturer's are pretty good for my course as most of them have working experience in the industry and not much complains heard from my coursemates too.
young_97
post Jan 10 2017, 11:46 AM

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QUOTE(Etolen @ Jan 10 2017, 01:28 AM)
young_97 should be able to answer a few of your questions regarding Taylor's IT courses as he is also a student under SoCIT at Taylors. Fyi I am also a student at Taylors but different major haha
*
QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 10 2017, 01:57 AM)
Okay, thanks for the tag. I appreciate it.

Well, what do you think about Taylor's? The environment, food, etc. I know you're not majoring in IT but maybe about your lecturers as well? So that I can at least have some insight on the lecturers in general.
*
Hi I currently in Diploma in IT.
What I can say that Taylor's IT is not very popular compare to others subject like business and law.

So far my lecturer are quite okay. One or two lecturer are not very good. Most of the lecturer have at least master.

For degree, taylors offer dual award, which means u will get cert from UWE and taylors. But University of West England does not ranked in QS ranking.
Dregith
post Jan 10 2017, 04:30 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 10 2017, 01:04 AM)
Bump. sad.gif  icon_question.gif

I have some updates.

I'm starting to not favour APU more and more even though it was my top choice previously. It's good in IT-related but I'm seeing negative comments about it especially the lecturers and its teaching quality. So I'll be on my own (perhaps along with some friends) but I'm not really the type to rely on myself.

Still don't know much about Taylor's in IT-related as I don't really see Taylor's popping up in discussions related to IT courses, despite the guy saying that it's "quite popular in IT" when I went there the other day.

A few of my friends recommended me Nottingham. It's pretty expensive but still affordable by me as long as it's not on the level of Monash for the SE course. I'll also have to wait for the intake in September, but all of that would be no issue if it's really worth it. Plus, if I decide to reconsider SE, I can still go for Computer Science (CS) which is still almost the same but more theoretical, and Nottingham's CS is accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS).

So I'm still seeking advice on this. APU can be dropped from my consideration now, I guess. I just need more info on Taylor's enough for me to decide on that. Nottingham could me my top choice now but I still need more advice. The others may not be considered anymore but it still depends.
*
UTM Skudai Software Engineering student here (public university). IMO without any proof or hard facts I would go for Nottingham. I haven't heard any negatives about it and if the British Computer Society accreditation is true, I wouldn't take it lightly.

Also, anecdotally, my experiences with MMU graduates is that they are pretty on-par with my university which means avoid that as well. The teaching methods and course contents in many Malaysian universities IMO is very dated and is a big issue.

Good luck in your future studies.

EDIT: Personally I would also avoid universities like Taylors, SEGI and the like because they come across as heavy on the marketing and PR department but lacking in producing competent graduates to me. But that's just me lah and I could be wrong.

This post has been edited by Dregith: Jan 10 2017, 04:32 PM
TSLightKeyDarkBlade
post Jan 10 2017, 05:41 PM

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QUOTE(Etolen @ Jan 10 2017, 11:31 AM)
Environment is better than Monash IMO (visited both campuses before enrolling). Food err kinda on the pricey side but I guess klang valley food pricing is around there? Lecturer's are pretty good for my course as most of them have working experience in the industry and not much complains heard from my coursemates too.
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I see. I don't think I'm considering Monash anymore as it's like the most expensive one to offer SE in Malaysia, better environment or not. Expected food to be pricey. No choice then.

QUOTE(young_97 @ Jan 10 2017, 11:46 AM)
Hi I currently in Diploma in IT.
What I can say that Taylor's IT is not very popular compare to others subject like business and law.

So far my lecturer are quite okay. One or two lecturer are not very good. Most of the lecturer have at least master.

For degree, taylors offer dual award, which means u will get cert from UWE and taylors. But University of West England does not ranked in QS ranking.
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So Taylor's is not really on the IT side, despite what that fella said. Most of the lecturers are good then. This is very different from what I heard in APU, where "a few of the lecturers are good".

Yeah, Taylor's offers dual award degree with UWE. True, it's not in the higher tier in ranking. So will you be going for degree after finishing diploma? If so, will you remain in Taylor's for degree?

QUOTE(Dregith @ Jan 10 2017, 04:30 PM)
UTM Skudai Software Engineering student here (public university). IMO without any proof or hard facts I would go for Nottingham. I haven't heard any negatives about it and if the British Computer Society accreditation is true, I wouldn't take it lightly.

Also, anecdotally, my experiences with MMU graduates is that they are pretty on-par with my university which means avoid that as well. The teaching methods and course contents in many Malaysian universities IMO is very dated and is a big issue.

Good luck in your future studies.

EDIT: Personally I would also avoid universities like Taylors, SEGI and the like because they come across as heavy on the marketing and PR department but lacking in producing competent graduates to me. But that's just me lah and I could be wrong.
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Yes, that's exactly what I think about Nottingham. I also haven't heard any negative comments or reviews about it, in any of its course. The BCS accreditation is for CS only though, not SE. Both CS and SE should be very similar but I'm not sure if they're both on the same level in terms of quality. Well, I can go for CS if that's not the case and if it's really worth it. I would mostly stay on SE though.

Wait, so according to your personal accounts and experiences, UTM is dated in its teaching methods and course contents, and that applies to MMU as well? Weird. I heard good reviews for MMU for its IT courses and not really any bad reviews. Anyway, I don't think I'm considering MMU anymore as I'm pretty skeptical about government linked universities and public universities, with their education overall including their teaching quality and course modules. I mean, if I can afford better, why not right? So if your anecdotes prove true, I can further ignore MMU.

Hmm... That's what I heard for SEGi. I mean, SEGi isn't really the IT type anyway. But I don't know much about Taylor's. All I know is that Taylor's is pretty new as a university and it's just pretty top tier in pre-university studies like A-Level, and not much on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Your personal account could be true for Taylor's though and I'm not going to omit that possibility.

Do you know anything about APU? I just need a little push for me to drop my consideration for APU completely.


So overall and from what I can gather, Taylor's is decent for IT, even though IT is not its most popular programme. The environment is better than Monash in a way and most lecturers are good. However, it could be lacking in producing competent graduates.

Nottingham can very well be my top choice now but I'll still gladly accept any info and feedback from students or alumni. It'll be a tiny issue for me if I were to wait until September for their intake, but if it's really worth it, why not? The transport may be an issue as well as it's in Semenyih. I don't prefer KTM as much as LRT so I might be driving.

Anyway, thank you guys for all your advice and info. I'm really grateful for that.

This post has been edited by LightKeyDarkBlade: Jan 10 2017, 05:44 PM
Dregith
post Jan 10 2017, 11:00 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 10 2017, 05:41 PM)
Yes, that's exactly what I think about Nottingham. I also haven't heard any negative comments or reviews about it, in any of its course. The BCS accreditation is for CS only though, not SE. Both CS and SE should be very similar but I'm not sure if they're both on the same level in terms of quality. Well, I can go for CS if that's not the case and if it's really worth it. I would mostly stay on SE though.
If what my nearly four years worth of studying Software Engineering has taught me in UTM is true, then Software Engineering is not about algorithms and refined programming but rather the process of software development as a whole with a big amount of boring documentation. I'm not too sure how true is this though but it is definitely true that Computer Science and Software Engineering is different. Do understand what you are getting into before you waste time and possibly regret your decision.

QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 10 2017, 05:41 PM)
Wait, so according to your personal accounts and experiences, UTM is dated in its teaching methods and course contents, and that applies to MMU as well? Weird. I heard good reviews for MMU for its IT courses and not really any bad reviews. Anyway, I don't think I'm considering MMU anymore as I'm pretty skeptical about government linked universities and public universities, with their education overall including their teaching quality and course modules. I mean, if I can afford better, why not right? So if your anecdotes prove true, I can further ignore MMU.
MMU more or less lah, at least the graduates I've seen that come out of MMU Melaka. I don't have any raw statistics or what but having met MMU graduates and comparing my knowledge with theirs we are more or less only except that I paid maybe 1/10th in tuition fees. Which is why I also don't think you should underestimate public/government-linked university.

QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 10 2017, 05:41 PM)
Do you know anything about APU? I just need a little push for me to drop my consideration for APU completely.
So overall and from what I can gather, Taylor's is decent for IT, even though IT is not its most popular programme. The environment is better than Monash in a way and most lecturers are good. However, it could be lacking in producing competent graduates.
Don't know. But I'd be wary of people saying X Y Z is good in IT or whatever without any comparison to base it from or some sort of verifiable accreditation. At the end of the day, you can't know what you have is good if you don't have anything to compare it to.

QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 10 2017, 05:41 PM)
Nottingham can very well be my top choice now but I'll still gladly accept any info and feedback from students or alumni. It'll be a tiny issue for me if I were to wait until September for their intake, but if it's really worth it, why not? The transport may be an issue as well as it's in Semenyih. I don't prefer KTM as much as LRT so I might be driving.

Anyway, thank you guys for all your advice and info. I'm really grateful for that.
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At the end of the day if you're serious about Computer Science or IT nothing beats going to a Western country and studying there. I was fortunate enough to spend a semester in Finland and took some classes there related to Computer Science and coming back to my home university it was definitely night and day.

Amazing thing was at the time they had a policy of free education even for non-EU citizens (although this is changing soon).

If you want to ask me anything more specific feel free to PM me.
bbhing98
post Jan 11 2017, 01:15 AM

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I'm a UTP student taking computer engineering course atm. Computer engineering is basically a combination of software and hardware. Though, the course focused more on software(which is mainly python, i heard) 80% of the lecturers here are full time professor Dr. And the education quality is undoubtedly good. One of the lecturers is a Stanford graduate for computer engineering which is known internationally for his research. He is in charge of the computer engineering department and has recently acquired several scholarship from Intel for several foundation students leading to comp eng.

The only bad side(depends on how you think) is the environment here is quiet and less hasty as compared to those in kl/selangor because the nearest town which is ipoh is about 35mins away from the uni, hence lesser access to entertainments such as cinemas and clubs.

This post has been edited by bbhing98: Jan 11 2017, 01:18 AM
TSLightKeyDarkBlade
post Jan 11 2017, 02:06 AM

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QUOTE(Dregith @ Jan 10 2017, 11:00 PM)
If what my nearly four years worth of studying Software Engineering has taught me in UTM is true, then Software Engineering is not about algorithms and refined programming but rather the process of software development as a whole with a big amount of boring documentation. I'm not too sure how true is this though but it is definitely true that Computer Science and Software Engineering is different. Do understand what you are getting into before you waste time and possibly regret your decision.
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What I know about CS and SE is that CS is more on the theoretical side while SE is more on the practical side. CS is about the fundamental knowledge of computing and SE focuses on the design and implementation of the knowledge of software systems. Isn't that what you're studying in your course? In UTM, SE is considered as one of the specialisations of CS.

By comparing the modules of CS and SE for Nottingham, year 1 is exactly the same, year 2 SE has one additional module, and year 3 SE also has one additional module as well as a few differences in the optional modules. So I guess they start out the same and then branch out slowly. You can compare your modules with the ones from Nottingham to see if they're the same in any way.

QUOTE(Dregith @ Jan 10 2017, 11:00 PM)
MMU more or less lah, at least the graduates I've seen that come out of MMU Melaka. I don't have any raw statistics or what but having met MMU graduates and comparing my knowledge with theirs we are more or less only except that I paid maybe 1/10th in tuition fees. Which is why I also don't think you should underestimate public/government-linked university.
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Hmm... I think the knowledge and understanding that we learn in a course for all universities should be similar more or less (perhaps some differences in the skills we learn), with the difference being the teaching quality, the sufficiency and quality of the utilities and facilities and whether they're up to date, the environment, etc. Well, I don't know much about MMU or UTM so I'm not gonna make a comment on that, only that I heard MMU is good for IT compared to some others with similar amount of fees and that's it.

QUOTE(Dregith @ Jan 10 2017, 11:00 PM)
Don't know. But I'd be wary of people saying X Y Z is good in IT or whatever without any comparison to base it from or some sort of verifiable accreditation. At the end of the day, you can't know what you have is good if you don't have anything to compare it to.
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What I heard about APU is that it's pretty good in IT and the name pops up many times just like MMU when discussing IT courses. However, I heard that it was better in the past but then not as good recently. I've also seen negative comments and reviews about APU (more than what I heard for other universities) particularly on the lecturers and teaching quality. I was pretty convinced to go for APU previously with the recognition and stuff, but I guess it's just something brought over from the past but doesn't really meet the standard now.

As for Taylor's, not much is heard about IT other than the helpful fellow above who's studying diploma in IT in Taylor's and gave me some info. Basically, it's decent but how good or bad it can be is unknown.

QUOTE(Dregith @ Jan 10 2017, 11:00 PM)
At the end of the day if you're serious about Computer Science or IT nothing beats going to a Western country and studying there. I was fortunate enough to spend a semester in Finland and took some classes there related to Computer Science and coming back to my home university it was definitely night and day.

Amazing thing was at the time they had a policy of free education even for non-EU citizens (although this is changing soon).
*
That's what I've always heard from people going overseas to study, that it's something completely different and it's worth it for the experience. I'm still deciding on whether to go overseas. But if I do, I don't think I'm going to study there for the whole course. For Nottingham, I could take a semester or a year in my final year to go for their inter-campus exchange programme for their campus in UK. I assume that the living cost would be expensive though considering that it's UK. But I found out that the UK campus doesn't have SE, only CS.

QUOTE(Dregith @ Jan 10 2017, 11:00 PM)
If you want to ask me anything more specific feel free to PM me.
*
Will do. Thank you very much for your advice. notworthy.gif


QUOTE(bbhing98 @ Jan 11 2017, 01:15 AM)
I'm a UTP student taking computer engineering course atm. Computer engineering is basically a combination of software and hardware. Though, the course focused more on software(which is mainly python,  i heard) 80% of the lecturers here are full time professor Dr. And the education quality is undoubtedly good. One of the lecturers is a Stanford graduate for computer engineering which is known internationally for his research. He is in charge of the computer engineering department and has recently acquired several scholarship from Intel for several foundation students leading to comp eng.

The only bad side(depends on how you think) is the environment here is quiet and less hasty as compared to those in kl/selangor because the nearest town which is ipoh is about 35mins away from the uni, hence lesser access to entertainments such as cinemas and clubs.
*
I see. So CE is a little different from SE then, since SE doesn't really involve any hardware stuff. According to their website, CE involves some of electronic engineering and computer science. Yes, I've heard that UTP is a good option for IT as well but CE doesn't seem like the choice for me.

I didn't realise that UTP is in Perak. lol.gif I would need to live there but much preferably in KL and Selangor for now. Well, there being quiet and less hasty is not a bad thing. People living in the city can actually go there to have a quiet time. A 35-minute drive is still good. You can go there together with friends from time to time to have some good food or go to shopping malls or cinemas. It's still okay. Me, on the other hand, would have to drive to Nottingham for about 45 minutes to 1 hour if I choose not to take KTM.

Anyway, thanks for your info on CE and UTP. I really appreciate it. thumbup.gif
bbhing98
post Jan 11 2017, 09:14 AM

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» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Just for your info, computer engineering graduates are in high demand right now especially in Singapore where they have a plan to gradually reduce the over-the-counter services and accountants by implementing AI system to manage the online banking system as well as balancing accounts. Many accountants will lose their job in the future.
Today, most devices such as smart home system also requires integration of its hardware and software to increase the reliability and efficiency. That is why the public universities are starting to offer this course.(its a brand new course in UTP.)
young_97
post Jan 11 2017, 01:04 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 10 2017, 05:41 PM)
I see. I don't think I'm considering Monash anymore as it's like the most expensive one to offer SE in Malaysia, better environment or not. Expected food to be pricey. No choice then.
So Taylor's is not really on the IT side, despite what that fella said. Most of the lecturers are good then. This is very different from what I heard in APU, where "a few of the lecturers are good".

Yeah, Taylor's offers dual award degree with UWE. True, it's not in the higher tier in ranking. So will you be going for degree after finishing diploma? If so, will you remain in Taylor's for degree?
Yes, that's exactly what I think about Nottingham. I also haven't heard any negative comments or reviews about it, in any of its course. The BCS accreditation is for CS only though, not SE. Both CS and SE should be very similar but I'm not sure if they're both on the same level in terms of quality. Well, I can go for CS if that's not the case and if it's really worth it. I would mostly stay on SE though.


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I think I will continue degree in Taylor's. If possible I might transfer the degree final year to partner uni like RMIT. There's few lecturer I know are not very good. For example, one of the lecturer teaching English in SOCIT not good. Seniors and juniors are complaiming about that lecturer

What I heard from my Inti lecturer. APU/APIIT lecturer are not very good as most of the lecturer are industry based therefore not very good in teaching. APU have more foreigners student than local student .

TSLightKeyDarkBlade
post Jan 11 2017, 08:00 PM

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QUOTE(bbhing98 @ Jan 11 2017, 09:14 AM)
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Just for your info, computer engineering graduates are in high demand right now especially in Singapore where they have a plan to gradually reduce the over-the-counter services and accountants by implementing AI system to manage the online banking system as well as balancing accounts. Many accountants will lose their job in the future.
Today, most devices such as smart home system also requires integration of its hardware and software to increase the reliability and efficiency. That is why the public universities are starting to offer this course.(its a brand new course in UTP.)
*
Yes, I've expected that many things will be replaced by AI in the future. However, I find that hardware isn't really my style, even if CE may be focussing on software according to what you said. I'm more suitable for CS or SE which deal with software systems and I can still contribute on AI.

QUOTE(young_97 @ Jan 11 2017, 01:04 PM)
I think I will continue degree in Taylor's. If possible I might transfer the degree final year to partner uni like RMIT. There's few lecturer I know are not very good. For example, one of the lecturer teaching English in SOCIT not good. Seniors and juniors are complaiming about that lecturer

What I heard from my Inti lecturer. APU/APIIT lecturer are not very good as most of the lecturer are industry based therefore not very good in teaching. APU have more foreigners student than local student .
*
I see. I saw their website and Taylor's has a lot of partner universities from all over the world. RMIT looks like a good choice for IT. I've never heard of any negative view on outbound exchange programmes so go for it if you have the money for the living cost.

Well, from what I heard in some universities, if students keep complaining about a certain lecturer they will sack him/her. But it also depends since some universities defend their lecturers a lot.

As I thought, APU has issue with their lecturers. I've seen this kind of comments many times already. From another thread in this forum, some say the lecturers have heavy accent and some students are struggling to adapt to their accent. Foreign students is not much of an issue for me. The main problem is the lecturers. If they can't teach well or speak well for people to understand what they're saying, then it's gone for good, whether the university is classified as popular and very good or not.

I heard many good things about Nottingham so I might go for that. Taylor's can still be a choice for me if Nottingham isn't going to work. I can try Nottingham and if they don't accept me or that there're other issues then I can pick Taylor's, I guess.

Thanks for your further confirmation for APU. I can drop APU already. Taylor's can remain if it's just a couple of flaws.
ValityMental
post Jan 12 2017, 04:42 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 11 2017, 08:00 PM)
Yes, I've expected that many things will be replaced by AI in the future. However, I find that hardware isn't really my style, even if CE may be focussing on software according to what you said. I'm more suitable for CS or SE which deal with software systems and I can still contribute on AI.
I see. I saw their website and Taylor's has a lot of partner universities from all over the world. RMIT looks like a good choice for IT. I've never heard of any negative view on outbound exchange programmes so go for it if you have the money for the living cost.

Well, from what I heard in some universities, if students keep complaining about a certain lecturer they will sack him/her. But it also depends since some universities defend their lecturers a lot.

As I thought, APU has issue with their lecturers. I've seen this kind of comments many times already. From another thread in this forum, some say the lecturers have heavy accent and some students are struggling to adapt to their accent. Foreign students is not much of an issue for me. The main problem is the lecturers. If they can't teach well or speak well for people to understand what they're saying, then it's gone for good, whether the university is classified as popular and very good or not.

I heard many good things about Nottingham so I might go for that. Taylor's can still be a choice for me if Nottingham isn't going to work. I can try Nottingham and if they don't accept me or that there're other issues then I can pick Taylor's, I guess.

Thanks for your further confirmation for APU. I can drop APU already. Taylor's can remain if it's just a couple of flaws.
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I'm a student of APU Computer Science currently doing degree level 1 tho, last semester of level 1, i would only list down what i had experience so far.

Regard on the lecturer, it depend on who teaches you, some lecturer are good and some are bad. In saying that the good i'm saying is that the lecturer are willing to help you in and out throughout the module, whether it is related to the course itself or not, some doesn't even bother what you're doing as long as they finish the syllabus.

It still depend on you overall, if you're putting assumptions that this university is bad, then its bad, as you already have this mindset. I can only say it all depends on how you look toward it.

As i'm finishing my degree level 1 , hopefully i can get 3.0 above so i can proceed to UK for my level 2 and level 3. Will be leaving APU end of march if my grade allow. nod.gif

This post has been edited by ValityMental: Jan 12 2017, 04:43 PM
TSLightKeyDarkBlade
post Jan 12 2017, 09:16 PM

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QUOTE(ValityMental @ Jan 12 2017, 04:42 PM)
I'm a student of APU Computer Science currently doing degree level 1 tho, last semester of level 1, i would only list down what i had experience so far.

Regard on the lecturer, it depend on who teaches you, some lecturer are good and some are bad. In saying that the good i'm saying is that the lecturer are willing to help you in and out throughout the module, whether it is related to the course itself or not, some doesn't even bother what you're doing as long as they finish the syllabus.

It still depend on you overall, if you're putting assumptions that this university is bad, then its bad, as you already have this mindset. I can only say it all depends on how you look toward it.

As i'm finishing my degree level 1 , hopefully i can get 3.0 above so i can proceed to UK for my level 2 and level 3. Will be leaving APU end of march if my grade allow.  nod.gif
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My first assumptions were APU is very good in computing & IT. I had very high hopes for it. Heck, I even paid the RM 600 enrollment fees because I thought it would be the top choice for me, but I can let go of it if APU is not the way to go.

I have seen many reviews and comments mentioning issues on the lecturers for their teaching quality and stuff. Only a few are good lecturers who assist you like what you have said. What can you say about the ratio of good lecturers to bad lecturers roughly?

I don't make assumptions and it's definitely not the way to just "depend on how I look at it". I look at other people's unbiased reviews and comments. Unless someone can give me a reason enough to persuade me to retain my consideration, I don't think I'm picking APU.

Transferring to overseas is a good choice from what I heard. Never once a negative view.
ValityMental
post Jan 13 2017, 08:40 AM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 12 2017, 09:16 PM)
My first assumptions were APU is very good in computing & IT. I had very high hopes for it. Heck, I even paid the RM 600 enrollment fees because I thought it would be the top choice for me, but I can let go of it if APU is not the way to go.

I have seen many reviews and comments mentioning issues on the lecturers for their teaching quality and stuff. Only a few are good lecturers who assist you like what you have said. What can you say about the ratio of good lecturers to bad lecturers roughly?

I don't make assumptions and it's definitely not the way to just "depend on how I look at it". I look at other people's unbiased reviews and comments. Unless someone can give me a reason enough to persuade me to retain my consideration, I don't think I'm picking APU.

Transferring to overseas is a good choice from what I heard. Never once a negative view.
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To be honest, every universities have good and bad lecturers depends whether do they teach you or not, so far the lecturer i encounter throughout my past 1 & half year here the ratio were like 7/10 overall. They were good but i'm not sure about other lecturer tho.

You can go other university. No obligation, after all is your choice right? We can't interfere anything, we just giving opinions based on our experiences.

Yeah going oversea is good. The reason i go oversea is to experience the culture and see how the real world is, learning to be independent. innocent.gif
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post Jan 14 2017, 12:49 AM

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QUOTE(ValityMental @ Jan 13 2017, 08:40 AM)
To be honest, every universities have good and bad lecturers depends whether do they teach you or not, so far the lecturer i encounter throughout my past 1 & half year here the ratio were like 7/10 overall. They were good but i'm not sure about other lecturer tho.

You can go other university. No obligation, after all is your choice right? We can't interfere anything, we just giving opinions based on our experiences.

Yeah going oversea is good. The reason i go oversea is to experience the culture and see how the real world is, learning to be independent.  innocent.gif
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I understand that and I guess it depends on which lecturers will be teaching you. So it's around 7/10 for good lecturers over all the lecturers? Still okay, I guess. But it would be very troublesome if I end up with most of the bad lecturers.

I heard some bad news regarding IT (or rather their SoCIT) in Taylor's. I might not pick Taylor's after all since they're not really on the IT side anyway.

Anyway, thanks for your info. biggrin.gif



In the end, APU came back to me magically. Now, it's just either APU or Nottingham. I'm pretty sick of this switching back and forth with the universities. From Nottingham to Monash, to MMU, to APU, to Taylor's, and then back to Nottingham and APU again. That's my process for these few months.

icon_question.gif I'm clinging more towards Nottingham though and I'm still accepting anyone's help in this. icon_question.gif

This post has been edited by LightKeyDarkBlade: Jan 14 2017, 12:51 AM
ValityMental
post Jan 14 2017, 10:34 AM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 14 2017, 12:49 AM)
I understand that and I guess it depends on which lecturers will be teaching you. So it's around 7/10 for good lecturers over all the lecturers? Still okay, I guess. But it would be very troublesome if I end up with most of the bad lecturers.

I heard some bad news regarding IT (or rather their SoCIT) in Taylor's. I might not pick Taylor's after all since they're not really on the IT side anyway.

Anyway, thanks for your info. biggrin.gif
In the end, APU came back to me magically. Now, it's just either APU or Nottingham. I'm pretty sick of this switching back and forth with the universities. From Nottingham to Monash, to MMU, to APU, to Taylor's, and then back to Nottingham and APU again. That's my process for these few months.

icon_question.gif I'm clinging more towards Nottingham though and I'm still accepting anyone's help in this. icon_question.gif
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I have friend who previously did foundation in IT at nottingham and end up not studying there for some reason, have to ask why tho, mind pm me your contact number? I'll ask him to contact you, give you an insight of the experience tho.


Btw which intake you planning to join?

This post has been edited by ValityMental: Jan 14 2017, 10:35 AM
TSLightKeyDarkBlade
post Jan 15 2017, 02:19 AM

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QUOTE(ValityMental @ Jan 14 2017, 10:34 AM)
I have friend who previously did foundation in IT at nottingham and end up not studying there for some reason, have to ask why tho, mind pm me your contact number? I'll ask him to contact you, give you an insight of the experience tho.
Btw which intake you planning to join?
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Hmm... interesting. Okay, sure. Can WhatsApp or whatever. Or maybe Facebook message also if he wants. If he doesn't feel comfortable to help, it's totally fine. Thank him for me in advance.

Well, as earliest as possible I guess. For APU, it would be 20 something in February. For Nottingham, it would be in September so it'll be quite a while.
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post Jan 16 2017, 02:53 PM

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There seems to be a lot of misconceptions in this thread:

1. Computer Science (CS) isn't theoretical at all (in fact many university do not offer the technical side anymore even in NUS). At its core, it is about problem solving and analytical thinking. What differentiate CS over IT is that you are expected to be able to analyze your solutions and come up with the best solution possible (optimization). Thus, the 2 main topics for a CS major is algorithms (steps towards solving various problems) and data structures (how to store/ manage data towards solving the problem). From there, you can specialize in a lot of areas from information retrieval, machine learning, data science etc... This is by far the hardest computing course but really in demand (check Australia's credit score for VISA application) as good companies would be able to differentiate a CS graduate from an IT graduate easily. What you learn would usually be what asked in Google/ Amazon or other big companies' interview (you would be expose to these questions in your 2nd year CS).

2. Software Engineering (SE) has little to do with Engineering at all. SE is usually a minor or major in a CS course -- designing and developing software through systematic means (this is why u get the engineering word). As an established field, you would learn about available design patterns which are the core template towards software design for various systems. You would also go through various development methodology like AGILE etc... Once again, this is more to a minor for most CS courses.

PS: I teach comp science in a top-100 international university and finishing my PhD soon.
PS2: Don't bother with IT courses, CS courses are much more valuable due to the analytical training which you will gain. If you can afford, go for international university.

Example of a classic Computer Science question:
Can you state the k-th number in the Fibonacci sequence, where k is a large number? If you are in IT, you would be able to program out a simple solution with recursion which will take O(2^N) time complexity. If you are in CS, you would do the tail-recursion approach, which reduces the time complexity to O(N) that is significantly faster. If you are in 2nd year CS onwards, you would be able to do this in O(log N) through matrix multiplication + tail recursion. Also there is auxiliary space complexity optimization as well =)

This post has been edited by evofantasy: Jan 16 2017, 02:56 PM
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post Jan 16 2017, 08:38 PM

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QUOTE(evofantasy @ Jan 16 2017, 02:53 PM)
There seems to be a lot of misconceptions in this thread:

1. Computer Science (CS) isn't theoretical at all (in fact many university do not offer the technical side anymore even in NUS). At its core, it is about problem solving and analytical thinking. What differentiate CS over IT is that you are expected to be able to analyze your solutions and come up with the best solution possible (optimization). Thus, the 2 main topics for a CS major is algorithms (steps towards solving various problems) and data structures (how to store/ manage data towards solving the problem). From there, you can specialize in a lot of areas from information retrieval, machine learning, data science etc... This is by far the hardest computing course but really in demand (check Australia's credit score for VISA application) as good companies would be able to differentiate a CS graduate from an IT graduate easily. What you learn would usually be what asked in Google/ Amazon or other big companies' interview (you would be expose to these questions in your 2nd year CS).

2. Software Engineering (SE) has little to do with Engineering at all. SE is usually a minor or major in a CS course -- designing and developing software through systematic means (this is why u get the engineering word). As an established field, you would learn about available design patterns which are the core template towards software design for various systems. You would also go through various development methodology like AGILE etc... Once again, this is more to a minor for most CS courses.

PS: I teach comp science in a top-100 international university and finishing my PhD soon.
PS2: Don't bother with IT courses, CS courses are much more valuable due to the analytical training which you will gain. If you can afford, go for international university.

Example of a classic Computer Science question:
Can you state the k-th number in the Fibonacci sequence, where k is a large number? If you are in IT, you would be able to program out a simple solution with recursion which will take O(2^N) time complexity. If you are in CS, you would do the tail-recursion approach, which reduces the time complexity to O(N) that is significantly faster. If you are in 2nd year CS onwards, you would be able to do this in O(log N) through matrix multiplication + tail recursion. Also there is auxiliary space complexity optimization as well =)
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I see, I see. So CS isn't really theoretical while SE is about designing and developing software by applying the core knowledge in CS, hence it being a minor or major of CS.

I'm not interested in other computing & IT courses, only CS and SE, and it seems that CS is the one that is more suitable for me.

Some people said that CS and SE do not deal much with mathematics and that it won't be rigorous, but according to your example of a CS question, it's good for me to hear that as math is the way for me even if my math is just good and better than all of my subjects and isn't super strong or anything like that.

I may not go overseas for my whole CS course as I wouldn't be able to go anywhere good or decent with my average A-Level result. I'll go for Nottingham and then perhaps go for their inter-campus exchange programme for my last year.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your info and comparison of CS and SE. It helped me make up my mind. thumbup.gif
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post Jan 16 2017, 10:37 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 16 2017, 08:38 PM)
I see, I see. So CS isn't really theoretical while SE is about designing and developing software by applying the core knowledge in CS, hence it being a minor or major of CS.

I'm not interested in other computing & IT courses, only CS and SE, and it seems that CS is the one that is more suitable for me.

Some people said that CS and SE do not deal much with mathematics and that it won't be rigorous, but according to your example of a CS question, it's good for me to hear that as math is the way for me even if my math is just good and better than all of my subjects and isn't super strong or anything like that.

I may not go overseas for my whole CS course as I wouldn't be able to go anywhere good or decent with my average A-Level result. I'll go for Nottingham and then perhaps go for their inter-campus exchange programme for my last year.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your info and comparison of CS and SE. It helped me make up my mind. thumbup.gif
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That's a problem with local colleges/ universities -- they are calling their IT courses CS when it isn't (giving CS a bad name locally when it is such a desirable course internationally). CS will always have maths because a lot of the algorithms were inspired by maths and can be proven by maths. Most of the established universities have their school of computing and math together.

As for Nottingham, I can't comment much since I am not so familiar with the course structure there (I am from Monash myself). One thing to know is that in CS -- there is no one right answer; instead you are encourage to explore and try things out towards pushing the limits as what I always tell my students to do. As long as you are able to justify it then you are good to go =) Thus, your education focus is never about the knowledge gain but the skill to gain new knowledge.

All the best in your studies in the future!
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post Jan 17 2017, 07:48 PM

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QUOTE(evofantasy @ Jan 16 2017, 10:37 PM)
That's a problem with local colleges/ universities -- they are calling their IT courses CS when it isn't (giving CS a bad name locally when it is such a desirable course internationally). CS will always have maths because a lot of the algorithms were inspired by maths and can be proven by maths. Most of the established universities have their school of computing and math together.

As for Nottingham, I can't comment much since I am not so familiar with the course structure there (I am from Monash myself). One thing to know is that in CS -- there is no one right answer; instead you are encourage to explore and try things out towards pushing the limits as what I always tell my students to do. As long as you are able to justify it then you are good to go =) Thus, your education focus is never about the knowledge gain but the skill to gain new knowledge.

All the best in your studies in the future!
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No wonder. So a lot of local universities do not focus much on mathematics in their so-called "CS" courses and they actually resemble IT courses more. Good thing I decided on an international university (well, if they do accept me). I knew my scepticism for public universities were correct but I've never thought it would extend to local private universities.

Nottingham's CS courses (one of them specialises in AI while the other one is the general CS) are professionally accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS), just like Monash's CS and SE are accredited by the Australian Computer Society (ACS). So I can safely conclude that they're both well known for their CS courses.

Right, so to push the boundaries to achieve better and better and better. Thanks again for your clarification and advice!
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post Mar 7 2017, 07:27 PM

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QUOTE(young_97 @ Jan 10 2017, 11:46 AM)
Hi I currently in Diploma in IT.
What I can say that Taylor's IT is not very popular compare to others subject like business and law.

So far my lecturer are quite okay. One or two lecturer are not very good. Most of the lecturer have at least master.

For degree, taylors offer dual award, which means u will get cert from UWE and taylors. But University of West England does not ranked in QS ranking.
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Hello nice to meet you, Im actually interested to study IT in either Taylor's or APU.
For Taylor's, I prefer studying foundation in Computing. Is the lecturers okay? Its more assignment based or exam based? Thankyou so much. smile.gif
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post Mar 7 2017, 07:30 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jan 14 2017, 12:49 AM)
I understand that and I guess it depends on which lecturers will be teaching you. So it's around 7/10 for good lecturers over all the lecturers? Still okay, I guess. But it would be very troublesome if I end up with most of the bad lecturers.

I heard some bad news regarding IT (or rather their SoCIT) in Taylor's. I might not pick Taylor's after all since they're not really on the IT side anyway.

Anyway, thanks for your info. biggrin.gif
In the end, APU came back to me magically. Now, it's just either APU or Nottingham. I'm pretty sick of this switching back and forth with the universities. From Nottingham to Monash, to MMU, to APU, to Taylor's, and then back to Nottingham and APU again. That's my process for these few months.

icon_question.gif I'm clinging more towards Nottingham though and I'm still accepting anyone's help in this. icon_question.gif
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Hi, I would like to know more about Taylor's bad news, can you please tell me?
young_97
post Mar 7 2017, 08:18 PM

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QUOTE(everlastinglxd @ Mar 7 2017, 07:27 PM)
Hello nice to meet you, Im actually interested to study IT in either Taylor's or APU.
For Taylor's, I prefer studying foundation in Computing. Is the lecturers okay? Its more assignment based or exam based? Thankyou so much. smile.gif
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More based on assignment based. (around 60% for coursework, incl assignment, test, quiz) Final Exam around 40%.

Some (70/30)
Some (60/40)

Depends on lecturer, some lecturers are good, some are bad. If u expecting for the best, i can tell u the quality is not as good as people said.


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post Mar 8 2017, 03:12 AM

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QUOTE(everlastinglxd @ Mar 7 2017, 07:30 PM)
Hi, I would like to know more about Taylor's bad news, can you please tell me?
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I actually forgot the "bad news" of Taylor's regarding IT. sweat.gif Anyhow, Taylor's doesn't really have any bad side as far as I'm concerned other than most students there are rich people (not really a bad thing but yeah). It's just that Taylor's isn't much on computing & IT and that I feel Taylor's is well-known by name only but the quality is questionable even though people always talk about Taylor's being an excellent university. No one really talks about Taylor's when discussing about computing & IT courses. So yeah, I guess that's why I dropped my consideration on Taylor's.

For your information, I'm currently studying Computer Science now instead of Software Engineering. I'm at Monash now in my second week of first semester. Nottingham was my other top choice but due to me almost meeting their entry requirements (but still has chance to enroll according to the enquiry guy I spoke to) and the distance from my home is much further than Monash, I picked Monash instead.
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post Mar 8 2017, 12:01 PM

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QUOTE(young_97 @ Mar 7 2017, 09:18 PM)
More based on assignment based. (around 60% for coursework, incl assignment, test, quiz) Final Exam around 40%.

Some (70/30)
Some (60/40)

Depends on lecturer, some lecturers are good, some are bad.  If u expecting for the best, i can tell u the quality is not as good as people said.
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Good to hear that college / university nowadays moving towards practical assignment than theory based.

In the past, it is the other way round. 30% practical / assignment. 60% exam / theory. At the end, the graduates only KNOW (Knowledge/Theory) what is programming but they can't really DO it (SKILL).


By the way, I am teaching prof Diploma in Software Engineering and we are 60% practical / assignment. 30% exam / theory.
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post Jul 2 2017, 11:15 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Mar 8 2017, 03:12 AM)
I actually forgot the "bad news" of Taylor's regarding IT. sweat.gif Anyhow, Taylor's doesn't really have any bad side as far as I'm concerned other than most students there are rich people (not really a bad thing but yeah). It's just that Taylor's isn't much on computing & IT and that I feel Taylor's is well-known by name only but the quality is questionable even though people always talk about Taylor's being an excellent university. No one really talks about Taylor's when discussing about computing & IT courses. So yeah, I guess that's why I dropped my consideration on Taylor's.

For your information, I'm currently studying Computer Science now instead of Software Engineering. I'm at Monash now in my second week of first semester. Nottingham was my other top choice but due to me almost meeting their entry requirements (but still has chance to enroll according to the enquiry guy I spoke to) and the distance from my home is much further than Monash, I picked Monash instead.
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Hi, so how was Computer Science in Monash? Could you please enlightened us with your experience so far? Or maybe you would prefer other choices instead?
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post Jul 4 2017, 03:17 AM

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QUOTE(michowler @ Jul 2 2017, 11:15 PM)
Hi, so how was Computer Science in Monash? Could you please enlightened us with your experience so far? Or maybe you would prefer other choices instead?
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I've just finished my first semester and I'm waiting for the results and for the next semester to begin. So far my lecturers are good and they're willing to guide you and they show passion in their work (but I have heard of bad lecturers of other units from other students). Other than lecturers, tutors are also willing to help.

If you want to know about the environment, the bad things that I can think of are the cafeterias do not meet students' standards in terms of food quality and pricing and washrooms may be unclean at times. I always go out of the campus to have my meals but you do need to walk or travel a bit. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) was opened recently at a link bridge between Monash and Sunway Monash Residence (SMR) but I haven't tried it yet. I believe the facilities are sufficient and most of the time you'd be able to find a place to sit down with your friends.

I guess my biggest complaint would be the structure of certain units. I am fine with some of the units as they're structured properly. However, certain units have a messy structure. Like there are certain stuffs (particularly programming) that are not taught sufficiently in the syllabus but are required in your assignments and projects and would never be asked in the exams. Thus, you'd need to do much amount of research and self-study for things that are not introduced in formal lectures or workshops just for the assignments while the exams only have theoretical questions. Some units are not compiled or structured properly.

But even with these issues, I'm still satisfied and would hope for them to improve further. Trust me, you'd find problems in any university especially those in Malaysia. I don't think I would pick another university, considering I've grown accustomed to Monash and have no experience on other universities. Though I might consider an intercampus exchange for one semester to the Clayton campus. That would depend on my overall result and finance (for the living cost there in Australia).

This post has been edited by LightKeyDarkBlade: Jul 4 2017, 03:18 AM
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post Jul 4 2017, 02:30 PM

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When it comes to assignment, an intermediary component is unlikely taught in syllabus.
I have too, who spent a lot of my time in YouTube for learning how to do integration.

I guess this is the goal of assignment, having amount of time in doing it at home while explore its needs.

As I'm aware, that my slides provided by lecturer always incomplete. Therefore, I have a reference book in case I need to.

This post has been edited by aBcD-|: Jul 4 2017, 02:31 PM
evofantasy
post Jul 4 2017, 09:34 PM

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QUOTE(aBcD-| @ Jul 4 2017, 02:30 PM)
When it comes to assignment, an intermediary component is unlikely taught in syllabus.
I have too, who spent a lot of my time in YouTube for learning how to do integration.

I guess this is the goal of assignment, having amount of time in doing it at home while explore its needs.

As I'm aware, that my slides provided by lecturer always incomplete. Therefore, I have a reference book in case I need to.
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Yup there is how it is. Assignments are meant for exploration, tutorials are to go through what you learnt in the lectures. While often it may not seem related, assignments are often designed to complement the sysllabus.
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post Jul 5 2017, 03:18 AM

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QUOTE(aBcD-| @ Jul 4 2017, 02:30 PM)
When it comes to assignment, an intermediary component is unlikely taught in syllabus.
I have too, who spent a lot of my time in YouTube for learning how to do integration.

I guess this is the goal of assignment, having amount of time in doing it at home while explore its needs.

As I'm aware, that my slides provided by lecturer always incomplete. Therefore, I have a reference book in case I need to.
*
QUOTE(evofantasy @ Jul 4 2017, 09:34 PM)
Yup there is how it is. Assignments are meant for exploration, tutorials are to go through what you learnt in the lectures. While often it may not seem related, assignments are often designed to complement the sysllabus.
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The lectures and lecture slides of my units are not really incomplete in my case. If the lecture slides do not have sufficient elaboration, the lecturers would explain things in details themselves. So I don't have to worry about the lack of information in the lectures as a whole.

As for assignments, yes they're meant to complement what you learn in your lectures, tutorials, and workshops and perhaps a certain proper amount of research might be required (they are called "assignments" or "projects" for a reason) but they definitely should not deviate too much.

In one of my units, even the tutor himself stated that he's upset about the design of the unit. There's only one class of a particular code and that class is literally asking you to go to a website and do the exercises yourself. In one of the assignments, you're actually required to have quite an amount of understanding of code to accomplish a certain task and requirement in the assignment. The unit covers a small bit of everything that you'll actually be confused and learn nothing in the end. There's no proper focus. The tutorials are also very disconnected from the lectures, and basically only the lectures have important information. There's also the "peer assessment" where a student can affect other students' marks, and it's in two of the assignments. This is in the tutor's words.

What I want to add about that unit is that the lectures and the exam have absolutely nothing about coding. So we have very less lessons on coding in the tutorials and they're all solely for one of the assignments.

Of course, I'm no blaming my possibly bad results for a couple of the units for this reason. Whatever marks that I couldn't obtain are totally my fault (except for the peer assessment). However, I have seen well structured and designed units and I have also seen units with messy structure and design with incompatibility between different aspects in the units as a whole.
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post Jul 5 2017, 02:56 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jul 5 2017, 03:18 AM)
The lectures and lecture slides of my units are not really incomplete in my case. If the lecture slides do not have sufficient elaboration, the lecturers would explain things in details themselves. So I don't have to worry about the lack of information in the lectures as a whole.

As for assignments, yes they're meant to complement what you learn in your lectures, tutorials, and workshops and perhaps a certain proper amount of research might be required (they are called "assignments" or "projects" for a reason) but they definitely should not deviate too much.

In one of my units, even the tutor himself stated that he's upset about the design of the unit. There's only one class of a particular code and that class is literally asking you to go to a website and do the exercises yourself. In one of the assignments, you're actually required to have quite an amount of understanding of code to accomplish a certain task and requirement in the assignment. The unit covers a small bit of everything that you'll actually be confused and learn nothing in the end. There's no proper focus. The tutorials are also very disconnected from the lectures, and basically only the lectures have important information. There's also the "peer assessment" where a student can affect other students' marks, and it's in two of the assignments. This is in the tutor's words.

What I want to add about that unit is that the lectures and the exam have absolutely nothing about coding. So we have very less lessons on coding in the tutorials and they're all solely for one of the assignments.

Of course, I'm no blaming my possibly bad results for a couple of the units for this reason. Whatever marks that I couldn't obtain are totally my fault (except for the peer assessment). However, I have seen well structured and designed units and I have also seen units with messy structure and design with incompatibility between different aspects in the units as a whole.
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Yup not all units would be well developed -- often an iterative process of enhancement. If you are in the first cohort when a unit is redesigned/ introduced then it would be really messy especially when the CE is in the Aussie campus. As for the coding part, just my personal opinion but the first year units are too light on coding now compared to when I was a student.
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post Jul 5 2017, 07:38 PM

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My assignment in programming did have certain maybe 5/30. That is about additional features, which encourages creativity to earn the mark.

Yes, I agree that peer assignment is quite headache. Most of the time I have reliable mates to distribute our work. I did have bad mates experience in my diploma years. I often stick to old mates, instead of trying new group. I try my best to isolate from having peer, have quality control of my work. Sometimes, the work like research and case study, you really need people to share with, it is too much. Spending too much time with on it might affect your other subjects.

In your programming subject, don't you have practical class that involved coding stuffs?
Usually lecture doesn't have coding, it is about concepts and theories.
I have 3 hours in lectures and 2 hours of practical per week in programming subject. It is quite difficult when it comes to final exam, as we don't have tutorial to discuss.
In my diploma years, we used to have 2hrs of lecture, 1.5hrs tutorial and 2hrs of practical.
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post Jul 5 2017, 10:26 PM

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QUOTE(evofantasy @ Jul 5 2017, 02:56 PM)
Yup not all units would be well developed -- often an iterative process of enhancement. If you are in the first cohort when a unit is redesigned/ introduced then it would be really messy especially when the CE is in the Aussie campus. As for the coding part, just my personal opinion but the first year units are too light on coding now compared to when I was a student.
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The unit is not new but I'm not sure how old is the unit. As for coding, I guess I can agree that it's actually not that difficult in the first year units. Initially, I had trouble with the Python unit as I had zero experience on coding prior to that but in time, I've grown accustomed to it and the logic behind coding as a whole so it makes it much easier and I guess the syntax is the only difficulty if I have to learn multiple computer languages. In that unit, the workshops may have some slightly difficult coding problems but in the exam, the coding is very less and simple. I don't really have any issue with the unit other than that.

For the unit that I mentioned earlier, we learn a couple of languages (only the basics) but the unit actually prioritises on theoretical and fundamental topics so the exam has zero coding most of the time. The issue is the tutorials have very little lesson on coding and the lesson is asking you to learn it yourself basically (making no sense as a unit in a CS university course) and one assignment has a lot of coding and that's the only place for you to show your coding skills in that whole unit.

I'm not sure the difference on coding difficulty between now and then though. Perhaps you're right on that.

QUOTE(aBcD-| @ Jul 5 2017, 07:38 PM)
My assignment in programming did have certain maybe 5/30. That is about additional features, which encourages creativity to earn the mark.

Yes, I agree that peer assignment is quite headache. Most of the time I have reliable mates to distribute our work. I did have bad mates experience in my diploma years. I often stick to old mates, instead of trying new group. I try my best to isolate from having peer, have quality control of my work. Sometimes, the work like research and case study, you really need people to share with, it is too much. Spending too much time with on it might affect your other subjects.

In your programming subject, don't you have practical class that involved coding stuffs?
Usually lecture doesn't have coding, it is about concepts and theories.
I have 3 hours in lectures and 2 hours of practical per week in programming subject. It is quite difficult when it comes to final exam, as we don't have tutorial to discuss.
In my diploma years, we used to have 2hrs of lecture, 1.5hrs tutorial and 2hrs of practical.
*
It wasn't "peer assignment" where you team up with some students to work on the assignment. It was "peer assessment" where you give feedback on and assess other students which affects their marks. I have no issue on peer assignments and usually you need focus on your own work instead of depending on other students. But "peer assessment" is preposterous, in my tutor's words.

The unit that I was complaining about previously was actually not a coding unit. It's all about theory and our tutorials have very little coding (asking you to learn yourself). The only place with coding is one of the assignments and you need to understand much about coding for that assignment. It's ridiculous when the unit doesn't actually teach you coding. Then, the exam has zero coding.

I had another unit which teaches you about Python. So the lectures teach you both about the concepts and some coding, the tutorials focus on the concepts, and the workshops focus on coding. That unit is actually well structured where you can see the connection between everything that you learned. However, the exam turned out to have simple coding compared to what we learned in the workshops and everything else is theory.

Our units actually have less time on lectures most of the time. This is actually one of the major problems where even my lecturers state that they have very little time to explain and elaborate and they have to organise extra lectures. The unit that I complained about only has one hour lecture per week and everything that the exam asks is all from the lectures. The tutorials aren't much but they have three hours per week and the tutor doesn't need to use the whole duration every week (except when assessing our presentations).
evofantasy
post Jul 5 2017, 11:42 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jul 5 2017, 10:26 PM)
The unit is not new but I'm not sure how old is the unit. As for coding, I guess I can agree that it's actually not that difficult in the first year units. Initially, I had trouble with the Python unit as I had zero experience on coding prior to that but in time, I've grown accustomed to it and the logic behind coding as a whole so it makes it much easier and I guess the syntax is the only difficulty if I have to learn multiple computer languages. In that unit, the workshops may have some slightly difficult coding problems but in the exam, the coding is very less and simple. I don't really have any issue with the unit other than that.

For the unit that I mentioned earlier, we learn a couple of languages (only the basics) but the unit actually prioritises on theoretical and fundamental topics so the exam has zero coding most of the time. The issue is the tutorials have very little lesson on coding and the lesson is asking you to learn it yourself basically (making no sense as a unit in a CS university course) and one assignment has a lot of coding and that's the only place for you to show your coding skills in that whole unit.

I'm not sure the difference on coding difficulty between now and then though. Perhaps you're right on that.
It wasn't "peer assignment" where you team up with some students to work on the assignment. It was "peer assessment" where you give feedback on and assess other students which affects their marks. I have no issue on peer assignments and usually you need focus on your own work instead of depending on other students. But "peer assessment" is preposterous, in my tutor's words.

The unit that I was complaining about previously was actually not a coding unit. It's all about theory and our tutorials have very little coding (asking you to learn yourself). The only place with coding is one of the assignments and you need to understand much about coding for that assignment. It's ridiculous when the unit doesn't actually teach you coding. Then, the exam has zero coding.

I had another unit which teaches you about Python. So the lectures teach you both about the concepts and some coding, the tutorials focus on the concepts, and the workshops focus on coding. That unit is actually well structured where you can see the connection between everything that you learned. However, the exam turned out to have simple coding compared to what we learned in the workshops and everything else is theory.

Our units actually have less time on lectures most of the time. This is actually one of the major problems where even my lecturers state that they have very little time to explain and elaborate and they have to organise extra lectures. The unit that I complained about only has one hour lecture per week and everything that the exam asks is all from the lectures. The tutorials aren't much but they have three hours per week and the tutor doesn't need to use the whole duration every week (except when assessing our presentations).
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I personally think there should be more coding in Year 1 Semester 1 because coding would be the tool you would use. Computer Science concerns less about coding by nature -- more to formal definitions, algorithms and data structure rather than coding. Often, you would find exams asking you to write algorithms than codes.

As for the peer-assessment, I do not agree with it but I can see where this is coming from. Code-reviewing is something you would do a lot in the industry and I guess they want to get this started early. Only by reviewing other's code you can improve your code as well besides the need to always work with others. I hate the fact it affect your marks of course but if there isn't marks, then no one would be doing it =(
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post Jul 6 2017, 12:54 AM

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QUOTE(evofantasy @ Jul 5 2017, 11:42 PM)
I personally think there should be more coding in Year 1 Semester 1 because coding would be the tool you would use. Computer Science concerns less about coding by nature -- more to formal definitions, algorithms and data structure rather than coding. Often, you would find exams asking you to write algorithms than codes.

As for the peer-assessment, I do not agree with it but I can see where this is coming from. Code-reviewing is something you would do a lot in the industry and I guess they want to get this started early. Only by reviewing other's code you can improve your code as well besides the need to always work with others. I hate the fact it affect your marks of course but if there isn't marks, then no one would be doing it =(
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Oh, code-reviewing would totally be fine. However, the peer assessment asks you to assess every student for one of the presentation as part of the assignment's marks. There's also an assignment where it asks you to assess students' performance in the unit in general. And this affects your marks. bangwall.gif
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post Jul 6 2017, 02:05 AM

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My bad, I skimmed the text, was read as assignment haha.
I did experienced twice in peer assessments, but it just contribute at most 5 to 10 %. It applied in IS case study and FYP proposal, both are full coursework.
Having another party to point out your mistake, also help you to improve your proposal and develop better solution. Tutor some also missed some mistakes during presentation. Yeah, having peer assess also mean sharpen our analytic skills.

By right lecture hours should be longer than tutorial. As tutorial is one step behind of what was taught in lecture.

I never had lecture that less than 2 hours, but I guess I know how bad its effect to students. doh.gif doh.gif doh.gif
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post Jul 6 2017, 06:19 AM

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ah i think it is too early for such judgement to be in 1st year 1st semester. i personally enjoy tutorials more than lectures since lectures can be really dry.
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post Jul 6 2017, 09:52 PM

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How's the assessment structure like in university or college for software engineering course/subject? 30% assignment and 70% theory (exams)?
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post Jul 6 2017, 11:27 PM

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QUOTE(aBcD-| @ Jul 6 2017, 02:05 AM)
My bad, I skimmed the text, was read as assignment haha.
I did experienced twice in peer assessments, but it just contribute at most 5 to 10 %. It applied in IS case study and FYP proposal, both are full coursework.
Having another party to point out your mistake, also help you to improve your proposal and develop better solution. Tutor some also missed some mistakes during presentation. Yeah, having peer assess also mean sharpen our analytic skills.

By right lecture hours should be longer than tutorial. As tutorial is one step behind of what was taught in lecture.

I never had lecture that less than 2 hours, but I guess I know how bad its effect to students.  doh.gif  doh.gif  doh.gif
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The thing is in peer assessment, you straightaway give the marks without the need to point out any mistake. No report is needed and you just submit the marks. hmm.gif

QUOTE(evofantasy @ Jul 6 2017, 06:19 AM)
ah i think it is too early for such judgement to be in 1st year 1st semester. i personally enjoy tutorials more than lectures since lectures can be really dry.
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Yeah, lectures are just you sitting there and listening while in tutorials you actually interact with each other. But still, lecture duration should be sufficient and not to the point that even the lecturers are complaining. The tutorials and workshops have mostly no issue with the timing.

You're a tutor of a 1st year and 2nd year units, right? Do you have any issues or things that you don't agree with in your units? And it's also kinda funny that I previously told you that I had issue with FIT1045 but eventually, it turned out that I have no issues on FIT1045 and instead it's the other units. lol.gif

QUOTE(ngaisteve1 @ Jul 6 2017, 09:52 PM)
How's the assessment structure like in university or college for software engineering course/subject? 30% assignment and 70% theory (exams)?
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I don't know about Software Engineering or any other courses. I'm currently studying Computer Science in Monash and the assessment structure differs between each unit. The assessment is classified into examination and in-semester assessment (which includes assignments, quizzes, workshops, tests, etc). In my case, I had four units in my last semester and their structures are as follows.

1) Examination: 40%; In-semester assessment: 60%
2) Examination: 60%; In-semester assessment: 40%
3) Examination: 50%; In-semester assessment: 50%
4) Examination: 70%; In-semester assessment: 30%

There's also hurdles policy where you must meet in order to pass a unit. The hurdles policy is at least 50% overall AND at least 40% for the total non-examination assessment AND at least 40% for the exam.

I just noticed the difference between the assessment structure of the units is also an issue. There needs to be a consistency.

This post has been edited by LightKeyDarkBlade: Jul 6 2017, 11:28 PM
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post Jul 6 2017, 11:42 PM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jul 7 2017, 12:27 AM)
The thing is in peer assessment, you straightaway give the marks without the need to point out any mistake. No report is needed and you just submit the marks.  hmm.gif
Yeah, lectures are just you sitting there and listening while in tutorials you actually interact with each other. But still, lecture duration should be sufficient and not to the point that even the lecturers are complaining. The tutorials and workshops have mostly no issue with the timing.

You're a tutor of a 1st year and 2nd year units, right? Do you have any issues or things that you don't agree with in your units? And it's also kinda funny that I previously told you that I had issue with FIT1045 but eventually, it turned out that I have no issues on FIT1045 and instead it's the other units.  lol.gif
I don't know about Software Engineering or any other courses. I'm currently studying Computer Science in Monash and the assessment structure differs between each unit. The assessment is classified into examination and in-semester assessment (which includes assignments, quizzes, workshops, tests, etc). In my case, I had four units in my last semester and their structures are as follows.

1) Examination: 40%; In-semester assessment: 60%
2) Examination: 60%; In-semester assessment: 40%
3) Examination: 50%; In-semester assessment: 50%
4) Examination: 70%; In-semester assessment: 30%

There's also hurdles policy where you must meet in order to pass a unit. The hurdles policy is at least 50% overall AND at least 40% for the total non-examination assessment AND at least 40% for the exam.

I just noticed the difference between the assessment structure of the units is also an issue. There needs to be a consistency.
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Thanks for the info. Sorry, the term "Unit" is referring to the course subject right?

This post has been edited by ngaisteve1: Jul 6 2017, 11:42 PM
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post Jul 7 2017, 01:44 AM

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QUOTE(ngaisteve1 @ Jul 6 2017, 11:42 PM)
Thanks for the info. Sorry, the term "Unit" is referring to the course subject right?
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Yes, we use the term "unit" for the subjects in Monash.
evofantasy
post Jul 7 2017, 05:10 AM

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QUOTE(LightKeyDarkBlade @ Jul 6 2017, 11:27 PM)

You're a tutor of a 1st year and 2nd year units, right? Do you have any issues or things that you don't agree with in your units? And it's also kinda funny that I previously told you that I had issue with FIT1045 but eventually, it turned out that I have no issues on FIT1045 and instead it's the other units.  lol.gif

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well there are but in general my units are really well developed (and hard lol)
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post Jul 7 2017, 08:19 AM

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Usually around how many students in your class? 30-40?
evofantasy
post Jul 7 2017, 05:46 PM

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QUOTE(ngaisteve1 @ Jul 7 2017, 08:19 AM)
Usually around how many students in your class? 30-40?
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depends on units
- some units can have just around 10 (less popular)
- some units can have up to 200 (core units)
tutorials and labs are usually limited to 20-25 max unless special cases
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post Jul 7 2017, 10:26 PM

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QUOTE(evofantasy @ Jul 7 2017, 06:46 PM)
depends on units
- some units can have just around 10 (less popular)
- some units can have up to 200 (core units)
tutorials and labs are usually limited to 20-25 max unless special cases
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wa you mean 200 students in one lecture hall? that's a lot ya
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post Jul 8 2017, 12:01 AM

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QUOTE(evofantasy @ Jul 7 2017, 05:10 AM)
well there are but in general my units are really well developed (and hard lol)
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Oh, hard. Well, I've gotta be prepared. lol.gif

QUOTE(ngaisteve1 @ Jul 7 2017, 08:19 AM)
Usually around how many students in your class? 30-40?
*
QUOTE(ngaisteve1 @ Jul 7 2017, 10:26 PM)
wa you mean 200 students in one lecture hall? that's a lot ya
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Yeah, it depends on the units. In many cases, there are units which have students from different courses and I even had business students in one of my Computer Science units (the unit that I was complaining about) until they switched to other units when they found out that the unit only has little coding and mostly theory and concepts. But most of the time, we Computer Science students learn with Software Engineering students more often since what we learn is similar in the beginning, unless we're talking about more general units like mathematical units.

Lectures can have students that fill the seats of almost the entire lecture theatre while tutorials and workshops can have up to the standard number of students in a classroom. It depends but that's the maximum case.
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post Jul 8 2017, 04:35 AM

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It does't matter which university. As long you learned what lecturer give to you. Applied on you skill. If you have lot of money, go overseas. Otherwise, take any UA is enough. IPTS also good, but make sure the cert / diploma / degree / master / phd are accredited by National Accreditation Board of Malaysia (Lembaga Akreditasi Negara, LAN).

 

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