Honours in Computer Science

Honours is a year of full-time study undertaken after the three year Bachelor degree. The Honours degree in a full-time degree, with no part-time options offered at all.

Honours is a year of intensive work and it is impossible to combine it with outside work.

The rules and requirements for the course can by found in the Science Faculty Handbook.

The Honours programme in Computer Science at UCT is designed to provide students with the professional basis for a career path in the computer industry, and/or to enable them to embark upon a research programme at Masters level.  

For the Honours degree, a major research project makes up 60 credits and the remaining 100 credits are made up from the coursework modules. These are listed in the Science Faculty handbook.

The starting date for the course is normally two weeks before the start of undergraduate lectures: the date can be found on next year's application forms.

Further details of this year's course can be found in the Science Faculty Handbook. 

Applications for 2026 are now open. The closing date is 30 September. Applicants must apply on the University's online application system.

Applicants may be contacted later by the department to provide further information such a motivation for why they want to be admitted to the programme. Please note that the 200-word research interest statement in the university application is not used to assess the application and has no influence on the selection of a research project. Referees are also not used for honours admissions.

Prospective students must apply for Honours in Computer Science.

Outcome of Application and Registration

Applicants will be notified of the result of their application by mid-December. International applicants (who require a visa) will be notified by early November. The programme starts around the end of January (usually 2 weeks before the start of undergraduate lectures at UCT).

Funding

UCT has information on funding for postgraduate students. Please download the Postgraduate Funding Handbook.

UCT may have internal funding for honours students, but it is only available to those who have applied to the NRF first.

Foreign Students

Students who need a study visa for South Africa should get all the documents and requirements ready before the end of November. You must get this visa before leaving your home country at the nearest South African embassy, consulate or high commission. Please apply immediately upon hearing of your acceptance. While a visa can be obtained in about two weeks from South African embassies that is only the case if all clearances, documents and health checks are in order, so this must all be done well in advance. It should also be borne in mind that the latter half of December is the start of the holiday period in South Africa; while in the new year, due to the pressure of late applicants, the process may take longer.

• CSC4002W    Computer Science Honours Project
• CSC4018W    Information Technology Honours Project
• CSC4019Z    Research & Innovation
• CSC4020Z    Functional Programming
• CSC4021Z    Compilers 1
• CSC4023Z    Big Data Management & Analysis
• CSC4024Z    Human Computer Interaction
• CSC4025Z    Artificial Intelligence
• CSC4026Z    Network & Internetwork Security
• CSC4027Z    Computer Game Design
• CSC4028Z    High-Performance Computing
• CSC4029Z    Introduction to Computer Graphics
• STA4026S    Analytics

Some of our courses (CSC2/3/Honours) have a laptop requirement.

Recommended specification

To ensure versatility and best performance we highly recommend the following specification.

Minimum specification

The following specification is the minimum hardware required to do this course. Lower specification hardware will hinder your ability to undertake the work in this course.

We recommend that where possible you purchase the recommended hardware specification above.