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Comprehensive Course Requirement

All PhD and PhD Track students are required to submit the Comprehensive Course Requirement form by the end of the first month of initial registration. The form specifies the requirements in terms of number of courses required and from which areas. This comprehensive course requirement exists to guarantee exposure to a breadth of high-level courses across a variety of areas in computer science, as agreed upon by your supervisor and the department. 

To fulfill the comprehensive course requirement, the student must take (or have already taken) 6 courses such that:

  • They cover at least 4 CCR areas. The list of all CCR areas and related courses can be found at this page.
    • Directed study courses do not count towards any CCR area by default.
  • At least 4 of the 6 courses must be in the Computer Science Department.
  • At least 4 of the 6 courses must be at the graduate level.
  • The minimum grade is 72% and the overall average is at least 80%.  

Courses taken outside UBC

Courses taken outside UBC can be counted toward the requirements subject to the following:

  • The grade obtained must be 72% or equivalent.
  • Courses to be counted toward the area requirement must be checked by the faculty contact person for the relevant CCR area, to make sure the course content is sufficiently rigorous and relevant. To obtain approval, students must provide a detailed course description (calendar description, course outline, course objectives, topics covered, textbooks used, description of projects and prerequisites).
  • If the faculty contact approves the request, the student should include the email approval when submitting the Comprehensive Course Requirement form.
  • For the other courses, approval must be obtained from the supervisor(s). 

Important notes

This comprehensive course requirement is NOT a credit requirement; suitable courses counted for previous degrees can in principle be approved and included, and this is not a credit transfer. Separately from the CCR requirements, UBC has course requirements for prospective PhD students (e.g. students entering directly from a bachelor's degree) which may involve credit requirements. If you're a PhD Track student, you should also refer to coursework requirements for detailed information about the number of credits you are required to take in order to be eligible to transfer to the PhD program.

In exceptional cases, the constraint of covering 4 different CCR areas can be waived. The student, with the supervisor(s)’s approval, must attach a justification along with this form, explaining why the proposed courses still provide equivalent breadth. The change is to be approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee (GAC). 

Also, a directed study course cannot by default count toward one of the four core CCR areas. It can, however, be counted as an extra course. Students can apply for an exception, but they must provide a strong rationale. The GAC will be responsible for approving such exceptions. 

Students must fill out this form (in discussion with their supervisor(s)) to explain how they intend to fulfill their comprehensive course requirement. It must be approved by the supervisor(s) and then sent for final approval to the Graduate Office (grad-admin@cs.ubc.ca).