In the last decade, there has been a revolution in information and communications technology. The rise of mobile computing, blockchain, cloud service, machine learning, social media, and big data analytics alters the socio-economic activities and environment. These innovation technologies have touched every domain of our lives — empower us to create, to manage, and to personalise digital contents for better services.
Computer science is one of the driving forces behind this huge technological revolution. It is a promising and fast developing discipline full of opportunities and challenges. How to build an entire ecosystem that combines both conventional and virtual spheres, generating value for the people while countering the possible risks? A knowledgeable workforce with wide-ranging technological expertise becomes indispensable, which leads computing education to be more critical than ever.
With over 48 years of efforts, today, the Department of Computing (COMP) at PolyU has turned into a strong and comprehensive academic department that nurtures trained talents and performs world-class research to support the society’s advancement as our primary goal.
We have gained international recognition in high quality education and research which is evidenced by our leading position in world university rankings over the past few years. For example, we secured the 34th position in Computer Science in the "Best Global Universities Rankings" by the U.S. News & World Report 2023, and we are also ranked 87th in Computer Science in the “Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024”.
Being one of the largest computing departments in Hong Kong, we maintain a well-equipped and experienced team of more than 60 professional academic and teaching members. They have extensive international exposure and are devoted to cultivate the students to be future’s innovators. Our department offers various academic programmes to address the education needs of different stages, from undergraduate to postgraduate studies.
As new and emerging technologies are becoming visible and significant to our lives, we should go beyond basic training that integrates traditional theories and applications in computer science. We incorporated FinTech and AI in the curriculum and introduced a programme in these forefront areas. Apart from local education, COMP offers regular exchange programmes for students to develop their international outlooks, broaden their perspectives and ensure their worldwide exposure in this globalised era.
To enrich the best learning experience and prepare themselves for their future career, industrial internship opportunities in sizeable companies further allow students to gain real-world experiences that improve their employability after graduation. Our graduates attained an almost full employment rate and their average starting salary was the highest among the Faculty of Engineering according to the PolyU Graduate Employment Survey 2022.
At international level, we possess a broad and close connection with the professional community and IT industry by inviting notable scholars and distinguished practitioners to serve as our Departmental Academic Advisors and Departmental Advisory Committee members, including Prof. Lui Sha from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Dr Xuedong Huang from Microsoft Corporation, and Dr Jingren Zhou from Alibaba Group.
Looking into the future, we are very confident in further growing COMP into a leading department in AI+FinTech, Big Data, and IoT areas in Hong Kong. We welcome students and researchers with ambition and motivation to join our evolving journey!
