Computer Science Stage 1 & 2
- School
- School of Computer Science
- Attendance
- Full Time
- Level
- Undergraduate
- NFQ Level
- 8
- Award
- Bachelor of Science
- Mode of Delivery
- On Campus
- Programme Director
- Professor Barry Smyth
- Overall Programme Credits:
- 240
- Programme Credits:
- Stage 1
Core/Option: 55 Electives: 5
Stage 2
Core/Option: 50 Electives: 10
Stage 3
Core/Option: 50 Electives: 10
Stage 4
Core/Option: 60 Electives: 0 - Major/Minor Core & Option Credits:
- Stage 1: 55
Stage 2: 50
Stage 3: 50
Stage 4: 60
Curricular information is subject to change.
Computer Science is a common entry course and offers the following two degree subjects:
Students decide on their degree subject at the end of Second Year. If you are a logical thinker who likes problem solving and you enjoy subjects like mathematics, a degree in Computer Science could be for you.
Information on all our courses including pathways, internships and careers information is available in the UCD Science Undergraduate Courses Entry 2026 Brochure (PDF).
CAO Applicants: Please email AskScience@ucd.ie if you have any queries.
Students’ performance will be reviewed at the end of the academic year. Students who fail 50% or more of their registered modules, and who fail to progress to the next stage of their programme, will be identified under the UCD Continuation – Academic progress policy. Students’ performance will continue to be reviewed in subsequent trimesters and students will be invited to meetings with the College of Science office for support and guidance.
Where the rate of progression and performance over two academic years is deemed unacceptable, a case will be submitted to the Governing Board for review. A recommendation for discontinuation may be the outcome of this review.
As Stages 3 and 4 have the most dynamic components of the programme, and the material studied previously may no longer be relevant, a student who has been away from the programme for a significant period should be required to register again to Stage 3. The upper limit for completion of Stages 3 and 4 should be six years if they choose to do 120 credits with 20 in each year.
Where the rate of progression and performance over two academic years is deemed unacceptable, a case will be submitted to the Governing Board for review. A recommendation for discontinuation may be the outcome of this review.
As Stages 3 and 4 have the most dynamic components of the programme, and the material studied previously may no longer be relevant, a student who has been away from the programme for a significant period should be required to register again to Stage 3. The upper limit for completion of Stages 3 and 4 should be six years if they choose to do 120 credits with 20 in each year.
It is possible to study abroad for a trimester, usually in the third year of the course. Universities that students have visited to date include the University of Auckland, New Zealand, the University of California, Irvine, USA, and Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
A UCD Computer Science degree equips you with fundamental skills for roles such as software developer, software architect, engineering manager, database designer, web developer, network engineer, systems administrator, or IT consultant. Graduates work in diverse domains including internet, telecommunications, healthcare, finance, online retail, gaming, and social networking. Some even start their own companies after graduating. With a BSc in Computer Science, you can pursue graduate study in computer science or related areas like business, mathematics, and engineering, or continue into PhD research at UCD or elsewhere.
UCD Science Office
You can contact the UCD Science Office in the following ways:
- Submit your query using our dedicated Contact Form.
- Drop into the office in the UCD O'Brien Centre for Science, Science East, Room E1.09. Our office opening hours are 10am to 4pm (during term time).
Stage 1
Students take 11 programme (core/option) modules (55 credits). Students who did not achieve a minimum grade of O1 or H5 in Leaving Certificate Mathematics must take MATH00010. All other students must take MATH10200. Students can take one elective or option module (5 credits) in the Spring Trimester.
Stage 2
Students take 10 core modules (50 credits). In addition, students can take 10 credits of elective modules or alternatively, take two option modules, or a combination of both, to fulfil their stage requirements.
Stage 3
Students take six core modules, and one 15-credit option module from List B.
Stage 4
Students take 1 core module and 9 option modules.
Below is a list of all modules offered for this degree in the current academic year. Click on the module to discover what you will learn in the module, how you will learn and assessment feedback profile amongst other information.
Incoming Stage 1 undergraduates can usually select an Elective in the Spring Trimester. Most continuing undergraduate students can select up to two Elective modules (10 Credits) per stage. There is also the possibility to take up to 10 extra Elective credits.
| Trimester | Credits | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stage 1 Core Modules |
COMP10040 | Introduction to Computer Architecture | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
COMP10070 | Formal Foundations 1 | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
COMP10110 | Computer Programming I | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
COMP10300 | Functional Programming | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
COMP10330 | Critical Thinking in Software Development | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
COMP10050 | Software Engineering Project 1 | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
COMP10120 | Computer Programming II | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
COMP10320 | Intro to Data Science and AI | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
MATH10210 | Foundations of Mathematics for Computer Science I | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Core Modules |
MATH10220 | Foundations of Mathematics for Computer Science II | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - A)1 of: Students who do not achieve a minimum grade of O1 or H5 in Leaving Certificate Mathematics must take MATH00010. All other students must take MATH10200. |
MATH00010 | Introduction to Mathematics | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - A)1 of: Students who do not achieve a minimum grade of O1 or H5 in Leaving Certificate Mathematics must take MATH00010. All other students must take MATH10200. |
MATH10200 | Matrix Algebra | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: Students may take COMP10310 instead of an Elective module in the Spring Trimester. |
COMP10310 | Web Design | Spring | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20020 | Digital Systems | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20070 | Databases and Information Systems I | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20320 | Computer Networking | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20350 | Object-Oriented Programming | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20360 | Formal Foundations 2 | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20050 | Software Engineering Project 2 | Spring | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20180 | Intro to Operating Systems | Spring | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20280 | Data Structures | Spring | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
COMP20290 | Algorithms | Spring | 5 |
Stage 2 Core Modules |
MST20050 | Linear Algebra II | Spring | 5 |
Stage 2 Options - A) Min 0 of: If not taken in Stage 1 students must take MATH10200 in Stage 2 |
MATH10200 | Matrix Algebra | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 2 Options - B) Min 0 of: Students must register to 10 core modules (50 Programme credits). In addition, students can take 2 elective or 2 option modules (10 credits) or a combination of both to fulfil their stage requirements. |
COMP20340 | Requirements Engineering | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 2 Options - B) Min 0 of: Students must register to 10 core modules (50 Programme credits). In addition, students can take 2 elective or 2 option modules (10 credits) or a combination of both to fulfil their stage requirements. |
PHIL10040 | Introduction to Ethics | Autumn and Spring (separate) | 5 |
Stage 2 Options - B) Min 0 of: Students must register to 10 core modules (50 Programme credits). In addition, students can take 2 elective or 2 option modules (10 credits) or a combination of both to fulfil their stage requirements. |
COMP20200 | UNIX Programming | Spring | 5 |
Stage 2 Options - B) Min 0 of: Students must register to 10 core modules (50 Programme credits). In addition, students can take 2 elective or 2 option modules (10 credits) or a combination of both to fulfil their stage requirements. |
COMP20330 | Functional Programming II | Spring | 5 |
Stage 2 Options - B) Min 0 of: Students must register to 10 core modules (50 Programme credits). In addition, students can take 2 elective or 2 option modules (10 credits) or a combination of both to fulfil their stage requirements. |
COMP20390 | Introduction to Cybersecurity | Spring | 5 |
Stage 3 Core Modules |
COMP30030 | Introduction to Artificial Intelligence | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 3 Core Modules |
COMP30870 | Graph Algorithms | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 3 Core Modules |
COMP30940 | Information Security | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 3 Core Modules |
COMP31020 | Formal Foundations 3 | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 3 Core Modules |
COMP30770 | Programming for Big Data | Spring | 5 |
Stage 3 Core Modules |
COMP30860 | Web Development | Spring | 5 |
Stage 3 Options - A) Min 0 of: If not taken in stage 3, students must take COMP30950 Multi-paradigm Programming in stage 4. |
COMP30950 | Multi-paradigm Programming | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 3 Options - B)1 of: All students should select COMP30880 at the start of the academic year. Students who wish to apply for the Industry Internship module and are successfully placed on an internship will be manually registered by the School Office to COMP30790 and subsequently dropped from COMP30880. Further information is available at: http://www.ucd.ie/science/careers/internships/students. |
COMP30790 | Industry internship | 2 Trimester duration (Spr-Sum) | 15 |
Stage 3 Options - B)1 of: All students should select COMP30880 at the start of the academic year. Students who wish to apply for the Industry Internship module and are successfully placed on an internship will be manually registered by the School Office to COMP30790 and subsequently dropped from COMP30880. Further information is available at: http://www.ucd.ie/science/careers/internships/students. |
COMP30880 | Software Engineering Project 3 | Spring | 15 |
Stage 3 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students may register to additional option modules from the list below in order to fulfil their stage requirements. Students may also register to 10 credits from elective modules. |
COMP30060 | Program Construction I | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 3 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students may register to additional option modules from the list below in order to fulfil their stage requirements. Students may also register to 10 credits from elective modules. |
COMP30230 | Connectionist Computing | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 3 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students may register to additional option modules from the list below in order to fulfil their stage requirements. Students may also register to 10 credits from elective modules. |
COMP30960 | Human Computer Interaction | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 3 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students may register to additional option modules from the list below in order to fulfil their stage requirements. Students may also register to 10 credits from elective modules. |
COMP30970 | Competitive Programming | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Core Modules |
COMP30170 | Computer Science Project | 2 Trimester duration (Aut-Spr) | 15 |
Stage 4 Options - A) Min 0 of: If not taken in Stage 3, students must take COMP30950 Multi-paradigm Programming in Stage 4. |
COMP30950 | Multi-paradigm Programming | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - B) Min 4 of: Students take at least 4 modules from this list. |
COMP30250 | Parallel Computing | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - B) Min 4 of: Students take at least 4 modules from this list. |
COMP30520 | Cloud Computing (UG) | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - B) Min 4 of: Students take at least 4 modules from this list. |
COMP30690 | Information Theory | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - B) Min 4 of: Students take at least 4 modules from this list. |
COMP30220 | Distributed Systems | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - B) Min 4 of: Students take at least 4 modules from this list. |
COMP30930 | Optimisation | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - B) Min 4 of: Students take at least 4 modules from this list. |
COMP40010 | Performance of Computer Systems | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - B) Min 4 of: Students take at least 4 modules from this list. |
COMP41960 | Advanced Information Security | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - B) Min 4 of: Students take at least 4 modules from this list. |
COMP47480 | Contemporary Software Development | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP30190 | Program Construction II | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP30230 | Connectionist Computing | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP40370 | Data Mining | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP40610 | Information Visualisation | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP41400 | Multi-Agent Systems | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP41740 | Human-Centred AI | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP47490 | Machine Learning (UG) | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP47930 | Augmented and Virtual Reality | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
SCI30080 | Professional Placement-Science | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP30110 | Spatial Information Systems | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP30540 | Game Development | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP40660 | Advances in Wireless Networking | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP47700 | Speech and Audio | Spring | 5 |
Stage 4 Options - C) Min 0 of: Students take sufficient modules from this list to fulfill their stage requirements. students who successfully completed SCI30080 will be manually registered to this module by the College of Science Office. Students who wish to take COMP47650-Deep Learning should contact the School of Computer Science office. |
COMP47980 | Generative AI: Language Models | Spring | 5 |
See the UCD Assessment website for further details, including worked examples of how degree award GPAs are calculated
Module Weighting Info
Module Weighting Info
| Award | GPA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programme | Module Weightings | Rule Description | Description | ||
| BHSCI014 | Stage 4 - 70.00% Stage 3 - 30.00% |
Standard Honours Award | First Class Honours | 3.68 |
4.20 |
| Second Class Honours, Grade 1 | 3.08 |
3.67 |
|||
| Second Class Honours, Grade 2 | 2.48 |
3.07 |
|||
| Pass | 2.00 |
2.47 |
|||