MSC Program at UoA

FAQ for MSC program:

• When and how to find a supervisor?

  • Earlier is better since you have more time to prepare for the thesis. For instance, if you can find a supervisor in S2, you have Nov-Feb to prepare the thesis. Also, it will speed up the offer letter for visa application.

  • The deadline for having a supervisor is the second week of the first semester of the thesis year.

  • Contact and meet with potential academic staff with the same research interest. After the discussion, gather their research interest and research problem, and find the one that suits you best. Some academics will propose a co-supervisor for you; some will not.

  • After finding the supervisor, fill out the form: https://www.forms.auckland.ac.nz/en/public/science/compsci-research-supervision-expression-of-interest.html

• Regulation of MSC Program: https://www.calendar.auckland.ac.nz/en/progreg/regulations-science/msc.html

  • See Section 10 for the conditions of the thesis phase.

  • Look up Computer Science to see the list of recognized 700-level courses in the program

• Thesis

  • Grading only on the final report by the two accessors (one internal and one external) proposed by the supervisor

  • Previous exemplars can be found in Library (https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/)

  • The thesis skeleton is like a research paper, including Introduction, Background, Related Work, Methodology, Experiment, and Conclusion.

  • Thesis template: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/science/about-the-faculty/department-of-mathematics/forms-and-guides.html

• Visa and extension:

  • Visa application after submitting the thesis: https://uoa.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14637/~/masters-thesis-submitted-visa-application

  • Thesis extension: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/science/current-students/postgraduate-students/extensions.html

Pro-tips to email MSC Coordinator:

• Always add student ID into the email title when requesting, e.g. [1234567 - Request swap STATS xxx to CS xxx]

  • This would help us quickly look up your profile on SSO system

• If you ask for the course concession and wonder the background matching the course prerequisite: 

  • Check the schedule clash

  • Attach the transcript or CV so that we do not have to use SSO to look up your profile.

  • If courses are not from CS school (e.g. from STATS), there is a chance that you cannot enroll due to the limited capacity. Hence, you should consider another CS course for backup.

  • See https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/my-tools/sso/enrolment/drop-swap.html to apply on SSO