Preparing CS Honours students for a research career: the Wollongong experience

International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, Jul 2005 by Fulcher, John A, Piper, Ian C

5. Students emerge from their Honours year, better prepared for both objectives. The pursuit of further research for the minority and an enhanced educational experience and improved employability for the majority. Of the current BCompSc Honours cohort at least two and possibly more are likely to undertake further research at the PhD level and this year, for the very first time, the University Medal was awarded to a BCompSc Honours graduate who has chosen to defer research for the opportunity of career advancement working with AARNET - the Australian Academic and Research Network.

6. Public attitude towards honours within the undergraduate community seems to have improved, partly as a result of word-of-mouth from current Honours students and partly as a result of a perception that Honours students are of real importance to the school. Whether this will lead, in future years, to a higher participation rate in Honours and subsequent postgraduate research study remains to be seen but there appears to be a basis for at least some confidence. It is noteworthy that, as a result of the introduction of the Honours seminar, there is now only a single annual Honours intake. Notwithstanding this, at least one student who graduated in the middle of this year and who is now in full-time employment in Sydney has indicated a firm intention to return to Wollongong to undertake Honours next year and is already actively pursuing potential supervisors and topics for research - a remarkable divergence from the previously observed pattern that once a graduate entered the workforce they were pretty much lost to all hope of subsequent academic research.

7. The quality of presentation from BCompSc Honours students at the School research conference has improved noticeably. It is worth noting that, as of this year, the format of the conference will change and that Honours students, along with other postgraduate research students, will be invited to submit a paper on their research results, prior to the conference. These papers will be formally reviewed and the authors of the best papers, at all levels, will be invited to give an oral presentation of their results. The other students will still be expected to present a poster as in the past. It is anticipated that this conference will, from 2004 onwards, be expanded to provide a competitive forum for Honours and postgraduate students from other institutions as well as from Wollongong to present their findings in an annual conference.

At this point in time, the future for CS Honours at the School of Information Technology and Computer Science looks very rosy indeed. The additional effort invested both by the Honours coordinators and by the Honours students themselves seems to have been more than repaid in terms of improved outcomes, academic and social together.

The future of Honours and, hopefully, an improved payoff in locally sourced postgraduate research students seems assured and will, hopefully see a gradual increase in student numbers to accompany the swift increase in student interest and satisfaction.