JMC Course Homepage

BEng/MEng JMC Degree Overview

The JMC (Joint Maths and Computing) degree programme is administered and awarded by the Faculty of Engineering leading to a BEng/MEng honours degree.
(Prior to 2011/2012, the JMC degree was administered by Mathematics and the Faculty of Natural Sciences, leading to a BSc/MSci honours degree.)

All degrees in the programme are academically jointly-run by the Computing and Mathematics departments.

The course structure of our undergraduate degrees is very flexible providing many optional modules. There is also a central spine of engineering project and design work running through all years. A substantial part of the final year is devoted to an individual project allowing detailed study of a topic relevant to the student's chosen specialisation.

BEng - Three Year

• Mathematics and Computer Science

MEng - Four Year

• Mathematics and Computer Science

All JMC degree programmes lead to the Associate of the City and Guilds Institute (ACGI).

These programmes, offered jointly by the two departments, are designed as mathematical courses oriented towards computing science and are suited to mathematically able students with interests in both subjects. The programmes give a firm foundation in Mathematics, in particular Pure Mathematics, Numerical Analysis and Statistics, and cover all the essentials of Computer Science, with an emphasis on developing software and reasoning formally about it, as well as more theoretical topics. The teaching is divided approximately equally between the two Departments.

Students take set modules from each Department in each of the first two years, with some options available in the second year. In each of the third and fourth year students select a total of eight modules from either department to support their particular interests and areas of specialisation. Students are able to switch between JMC degree programmes at any stage during the first year. Note that progress on the 4 year JMC MEng degree programme requires that the student maintains a sufficient performance (2:1 level) throughout the first two years of the degree. As with other MEng degrees in Computing, students may be required to transfer to the 3 year BEng degree if they do not meet this level.

With the spread of computing procedures and mathematical ideas into many areas, there is high demand for professionals who are expert in both computing and mathematics. Graduates in these degree programmes are also well qualified for careers that normally require graduates from one or other of the two disciplines.

Course specific information

Industrial placement

The JMC industrial placement is a 4 month placment that takes place from June to September in Year 3 of the JMC MEng degree. The placement is organised through the excellent Computing industrial placement team. Please see the Industrial placement homepage for more information or contact the industrial placement team in Computing.

MATH60053/MATH70106: Maths Individual Project

In JMC BEng Year 3 or JMC MEng year 4, you have the option of taking a final-year individual project in either the Maths or Computing departments. As with the Computing final-year individual project, the Maths final-year individual project involves a substantial piece of research that lasts 2 terms. Information on the Maths Individual Project is usually given out in the Summer term (often after JMC MEng Year 3 students have gone on industrial placement). However if you are interested in a Maths project then you need to contact a potential supervisor over the summer before your final year. Additionally, Maths try to make a few JMC-only final-year projects available on the DoC Project Portal in October. You should register your interest in taking MATH60053 or MATH70106 with the UG Maths Office once you have decided. If you do not take a Maths final-year project then you must register to take a Computing final-year Individual project as an alternative; these are made available from October of your final year. Please see the Maths Department website for more information, or contact Dr David Ham in Maths.

Exam preparations

Note that there are exams and tests up to the end of week 11 of the Autumn and Spring terms and also from the beginning of week 1 of the Spring term. End-of-year exams run from the beginning of week 1 of the Summer term with project assessments and presentations happening right up to the end of week 9 of the Summer term. 
Make sure you book your flights accordingly - Term dates can be found on the college website.

Although you might feel you desperately need a break after teaching finishes in March, do the right thing and start preparing for your exams immediately.

Contacts

If you have any questions, comments, complaints or compliments regarding your year, you can contact Dr Mark Wheelhouse and/or Dr David Ham or post on the JMC Ed Discussion board. If They can't solve your problem, they will put you in contact with someone who can help you or provide you with the necessary information you need. You can also talk to your Year Rep or your Personal Tutor. For serious problems, like reporting illness or when your private situation interferes with your studies, the best thing to do is to contact the Senior Tutor in the Department of Computing. Please bear in mind that the Senior Tutor can always speak up for you at the examiners' meeting (e.g. to explain why your results are not as expected), but to do this, they need to be aware of any major problem that affects those results.

Important notes

1. Check your email daily.
2. Classes are normally held between the hours of 09.00 and 18.00 each weekday.
   Wednesday afternoons are left free to allow students to take part in sports etc.
3. Absence of more than one day during term-time must be notified to the Senior Tutor immediately, with an indication of the period likely to be involved.
   When absence on account of illness exceeds 5 working days, a medical certificate is required.
4. If part or the whole of an examination is missed on account of illness, a medical certificate must be sent immediately.
5. A medical certificate is also needed where coursework is submitted late for reasons of illness.
6. All assessed coursework in Computing must be submitted to Scientia.
   Coursework should never be handed in to individual lecturers (either in-person or via e-mail).
7. Unless coursework is handed in on time, there is no guarantee that it will be marked.
   See the Department's Late submission policy for more details.
8. Coursework is an integral part of the degree programme and all work should be retained by the student after it has been marked and returned.
9. Most of the general year information is the same as for the Computing first year (e.g. safety, computing facilities, etc).
   Consult the Computing First Year homepage for more up-to-date information.