High School Computing (HS1917)

UNSW Computing course for year 11 and 12 students

Each year, a limited number of talented high school students will be offered the opportunity to enrol at UNSW and take COMP1917, our highly popular first-year university level course in computing.  The Course is commonly called HS1917.

Get university credit while at High School

This is not an HSC subject substitution, but a genuine university computing course with the same content and assignments as taken by first-year Computing, Science, and Engineering students at UNSW. Students who subsequently enroll in a UNSW Computing or Engineering degree will receive full credit for the course.

How it works

Students watch lectures at home on DVD and then attend weekly tutorial classes at UNSW or one of the alternative locations listed on the website. Classes run from February to June. No previous programming experience is required, mathematical insight is useful.

Cost

The subsidised cost is $300 for the entire course.  This is an administration fee, and is non-refundable (only students accepted into the course incur the fee).  Scholarships are available for those with financial hardship.

Apply

Before you apply, you will need to get your mathematics teacher's permission to be your referee and ask for their email address. As not all schools offer SDD or IPT, this must be your mathematics teacher.

Apply for HS1917 here.

"HS1917 provided a great way for me to learn computing appropriate to my level of experience, beyond that which school courses could provide and was also a great way to get a start in uni and get a taste of the uni student experience giving me a head start in the course I plan to get through." - Curtis, 2012 participant

Computing 1

Computing 1 is another initiative which is aimed to introduce software design to everyone.  It covers around half of HS1917, with these important differences:

- UNSW Computing 1is open to everyone, including students, teachers and the general public.  HS1917 is only available to selected high school students.
- UNSW Computing 1is available to people everywhere, so ideal for students who can't make the HS1917 tutorials.
- UNSW Computing 1 is introductory (around half of HS1917), while HS1917 covers more depth and includes the complete Course.
- UNSW Computing 1 does not give students credit at UNSW, while HS1917 does.

Apply for Computing 1 here.
Apply for HS1917 here.