Master of Philosophy in Computer Science and Engineering
Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science and Engineering
MPhil(CSE)
PhD(CSE)
Both full- and part-time
MPhil
Full-time: 2 years
Part-time: 4 years
PhD
Full-time: 3 years (with a relevant research master’s degree), 4 years (without a relevant research master’s degree)
Part-time: 6 years
PG Programs Coordinator:
Prof Yangqiu SONG, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
Applicants may apply for individual concentration(s) specified in the “Concentration” tab.
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Program seeks to strengthen students' knowledge in computer science and expose them to issues involved in the development, scientific, educational and commercial applications of computer systems. A candidate for an MPhil degree is expected to demonstrate knowledge in the discipline and to synthesize and create new knowledge, making a contribution to the field.
The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Program aims to develop the skills needed to identify research issues related to a practical application, to formulate an original research plan that addresses some of those issues, and to independently create a computing-related solution. A candidate for a PhD degree is expected to demonstrate mastery of knowledge in the chosen discipline and to synthesize and create new knowledge, making an original and substantial contribution to the discipline.
On successful completion of the MPhil program, graduates will be able to:
- Demonstrate a general understanding of the field of computer science, and knowledge in one of the three major areas including systems, applications and theory;
- Make a contribution to their specific field of study through either original research or substantial engineering efforts;
- Communicate effectively and professionally both in writing and oral presentations using appropriate technical languages, and interpret their research or engineering outcome both to a specialist and a general audience clearly;
- Follow the principles of ethics in their field and in academia; and
- Demonstrate a mastery of skills and knowledge at a level required for college and university undergraduate teaching in computer science and assessment of student learning.
On successful completion of the PhD program, graduates will be able to:
- Demonstrate a systematic understanding of the field of computer science, and wide knowledge across the three major areas including systems, applications and theory;
- Make a contribution to their specific field of study through original research that extends the frontier of knowledge by developing a substantial body of work;
- Communicate effectively and professionally both in writing and oral presentations using appropriate technical languages, publish research outcomes in peer-reviewed venues, and interpret their research outcome both to a specialist and a general audience clearly;
- Set their own research agenda for the future, and to undertake a future career as an independent researcher in academia and industry;
- Follow the principles of ethics in their field and in academia; and
- Demonstrate a mastery of skills and knowledge at a level required for college and university undergraduate teaching in computer science and assessment of student learning.
The programs are offered by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering with the following research foci and state-of-the-art facilities, training students with the skillsets to make the useful applications in modern life.
Research Foci
Artificial Intelligence
Machine learning, data mining and pattern recognition, knowledge representation and reasoning, robotics and sensor-based activity recognition, multi-agent and game theory, and speech and language processing.
Cybersecurity
Cryptography, information security, the interplay between cryptography and coding theory, blockchain security, smart contracts, distributed systems security, applied cryptography, formal verification logics for security hyperproperties, artificial intelligence security, software security, systems security, network security, web security, reverse engineering.
Data, Knowledge and Information Management
Large-scale data management, modeling and distribution encompassing web query processing, information retrieval and web search, data mining, enterprise systems, high-performance data management systems on modern computers, and database support for science applications.
Human-Computer Interaction
Extended reality, multimodal interaction, crowdsourcing, multimodal communication, affective computing, visual analytics of big data, intelligent interface for robots and intelligent agents, e-learning, healthcare, e-commerce, and computational design.
Networking and Computer Systems
Pervasive computing and sensor networks, peer-to-peer computing, grid computing, high-performance switches and routers, video delivery and multicasting, multimedia networking, MAC protocols for ad-hoc networks, web cache management, DDOS detection and defense, and resource management and allocation in optical networks.
Software Engineering and Programming Languages
Program Analysis and Testing, Empirical Software Engineering and Mining Software Repository, Formal Semantics and Verification, Concurrency and Parallel Programming, Compilers and Program Optimization, Foundations of Software and Type Systems, and Blockchain, Smart Contracts and Decentralized Applications.
Theoretical Computer Science
Design and analysis of algorithms, data structures, computational geometry, inform ory, cryptography, and database theory.
Vision and Graphics
Computer vision, computer graphics, medical image analysis, biometric systems, and video processing.
Facilities
The Department has excellent facilities to support its programs and is committed to keeping its computing facilities up to date. There are about 700 workstations and PCs, including those in four teaching laboratories, three MS Windows Labs and one Linux lab. The Department also runs several research laboratories with specific facilities, including the computer engineering, database, Human-Computer Interaction Initiative, vision and graphics labs. Specialized project laboratories include:
-
The HCI lab, has large-sized multi-touch wall display and table, linked with various physiological sensors for gesture/ body tracking, and programmable interactive robots;
-
The Human Language Technology Center, with various corpora and a Linux cluster;
-
The System and Media Laboratory, partially funded by Deutsche Telekom, focusing mobile computing and any interesting topics related to social network, virtual reality and augmented reality; and
-
The Networking group that maintains different sets of network cluster interconnected with high speed optical connections for Data center and cloud computing research; and
-
Different research groups maintain their own CPU/ GPU cluster customized for different research need.
In addition, the Department manages a pool of Linux servers as CPU/ GPU cluster for general research projects demanding significant system resources, and acquires a GPU cluster for the whole University. The file servers are connected with one HDS VPS G200 and one HDS HUS110 Storage Area Network (SAN) system, with a total capacity of more than 150TB. There is also a pool of high performance servers with GPUs and interconnected with 10GbE switches dedicated for undergraduate courses on parallel computing, Big Data analysis and cloud computing. We also have a private cloud infrastructure for teaching and projects.
- Minimum Credit Requirement
MPhil: 16 credits
PhD: 19 credits
- Credit Transfer
For PhD students, credits transferred from programs completed in other universities will be considered on a case-by-case basis, subject to the approval of the departmental PG Committee. No UG courses can be used for credit transfer to the PhD program. Credits from no more than two PG courses can be transferred from outside the Department.
- Required Courses
MPhil:
15 credits of postgraduate courses, of which at least 8 credits must be earned at HKUST. Courses used to satisfy the credit requirements must cover at least four established research areas of the Department.
PhD:
- 18 credits of postgraduate courses, of which 12 credits (i.e. 4 courses) are required to be earned from PG core courses in different selected core research areas. A list of PG core courses and their affiliated areas is maintained by the Department. Students must complete two of the PG core courses in the first year of their PhD study, and all four PG core courses by the end of their second year of study. Students must obtain a B+ or above for all four PG core courses. Only one Independent Studies course may be used to satisfy the course requirements. No undergraduate course can be used to satisfy any of these PG course requirements.
- PhD students must obtain a grade B or above in each of the following UG courses or equivalent, subject to the approval of the PG Coordinator. Credits earned from the following UG courses cannot be counted toward the degree requirements.
- School Requirements on PhD Programs
In addition to the program requirements, all full-time and part-time PhD students are required to complete the school requirements, which aim to help students gain a wider exposure to multidisciplinary areas, and attain all-rounded learning by broadening their knowledge base.
PhD students are required to take at least a 3-credit course at 5000-level or above outside their programs offered by the School of Engineering. The 3 credits may be satisfied by courses from other Schools upon approval.
In some exceptional cases where students can provide sufficient justifications and obtain prior approval from their supervisors, PG Coordinators, and Heads of Department/Program Directors or designees, they are allowed to take the 3-credit course within their home departments/programs but the course must be in areas outside their specialty.
Details of the requirements are available on the website of the School of Engineering.
- Professional Development Course Requirement
All full-time RPg students are required to complete PDEV 6800. The course is composed of a 10-hour training offered by the Center for Education Innovation (CEI), and session(s) of instructional delivery to be assigned by the respective departments. Upon satisfactory completion of the training conducted by CEI, MPhil students are required to give at least one 30-minute session of instructional delivery in front of a group of students for one term. PhD students are required to give at least one such session each in two different terms. The instructional delivery will be formally assessed.
-
Professional Development Course Requirement
Students are required to complete PDEV 6770. The 1 credit earned from PDEV 6770 cannot be counted toward the credit requirements.
PhD students who are HKUST MPhil graduates and have completed PDEV 6770 or other professional development courses offered by the University before may be exempted from taking PDEV 6770, subject to prior approval of the School.
Students are required to complete ENGG 6780. The 1 credit earned from ENGG 6780 cannot be counted toward the credit requirements.
PhD students who are HKUST MPhil graduates and have completed ENGG 6780 or other professional development courses offered by the University before may be exempted from taking ENGG 6780, subject to prior approval of the School.
- English Language Requirement
Full-time RPg students are required to take an English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA) Speaking Test administered by the Center for Language Education before the start of their first term of study. Students whose ELPA Speaking Test score is below Level 4, or who failed to take the test in their first term of study, are required to take LANG 5000 until they pass the course by attaining at least Level 4 in the ELPA Speaking Test before graduation. The 1 credit earned from LANG 5000 cannot be counted toward the credit requirements.
Students are required to complete LANG 5005 and advised to complete it in the first year of study. The 1 credit earned from LANG 5005 cannot be counted toward the program credit requirements. Students may be considered for exemption from this course, subject to the approval of the Department Head and/or PG Coordinator/Program Director.
- Postgraduate Seminars
MPhil/PhD: 1 credit
Students are required to complete COMP 6911 and COMP 6912 in two terms.
- PhD Qualifying Examination
PhD students are required to pass a qualifying examination within the first 22 months after admission, with a maximum of two attempts. The qualifying examination consists of a comprehensive, written critical survey and review of the student's intended research focus, and a public oral examination.
Students are also required to submit a thesis proposal and defend it at a public oral examination, normally within one year after satisfying the qualifying examination requirement, with a maximum of two attempts. The second attempt must be completed within six months of the first attempt. The thesis proposal requirement must be completed before attempting the final thesis defense.
- Thesis Research
MPhil:
- Registration in COMP 6990; and
- Presentation and oral defense of the MPhil thesis.
PhD:
- Registration in COMP 7990; and
- Presentation and oral defense of the PhD thesis.
Last update: 1 June 2023
- Energy Technology Concentration
In addition to the existing program requirements, students who opt for the Energy Technology concentration are required to:
- Take one ENEG course.
- Complete ENEG 6010 for one term.
- Conduct research in energy area.
- Scientific Computation Concentration
In addition to the existing program requirements, students who opt for the Scientific Computation concentration are required to:
- MPhil:
Complete a minimum of 7 credits from the following course lists.
PhD:
Complete a minimum of 10 credits from the following course lists.
The credits earned under the concentration will be counted toward the total credit requirements of the programs.
All students must take MATH 6915 and MATH 6916. Credits earned from MATH 6915 can be repeated for up to 2 credits.
All students must take at least one course of other departments (excluding MATH 6915 and MATH 6916) or one CSIC course.
Elective Courses
- Conduct research in the area of scientific computation.
Last update: 18 May 2023
To qualify for admission, applicants must meet all of the following requirements. Admission is selective and meeting these minimum requirements does not guarantee admission.
-
Applicants seeking admission to a master's degree program should have obtained a bachelor’s degree from a recognized institution, or an approved equivalent qualification;
-
Applicants seeking admission to a doctoral degree program should have obtained a bachelor’s degree with a proven record of outstanding performance from a recognized institution; or presented evidence of satisfactory work at the postgraduate level on a full-time basis for at least one year, or on a part-time basis for at least two years.
Applicants have to fulfill English Language requirements with one of the following proficiency attainments:
-
TOEFL-iBT: 80*
-
TOEFL-pBT: 550
-
TOEFL-Revised paper-delivered test: 60 (total scores for Reading, Listening and Writing sections)
-
IELTS (Academic Module): Overall score: 6.5 and All sub-score: 5.5
* refers to the total score in one single attempt
Applicants are not required to present TOEFL or IELTS score if
-
their first language is English, or
-
they obtained the bachelor's degree (or equivalent) from an institution where the medium of instruction was English.
