Computer Science and Philosophy

Computer Science and Philosophy at Balliol College

Balliol was one of the first three Oxford colleges to have a Tutorial Fellow in Computer Science, and undergraduate study in the subject is well supported here. All first-year and second-year core courses in computer science are taught in College. The College Library is richly stocked with study resources in both subjects. In addition to the Tutorial Fellow in Computation, the Fellowship includes Nick Trefethen, Professor of Numerical Analysis. The Oxford Internet Institute is also housed within Balliol.

Balliol tutors in both Computer Science and Philosophy recognise the special requirements of this joint course and work together to organise the teaching to best fit the structure of the course. With a number of Fellows and Lecturers in both subjects, Balliol guarantees good teaching and caters for a large number of options.

Computing teaching and computing students are well integrated into the broader mathematics community within Balliol. Computer Science & Philosophy students are also well integrated with students from the other philosophy joint schools, especially Physics & Philosophy and Mathematics & Philosophy. There is a flourishing undergraduate mathematical society, which helps introduce new mathematics students to the College and also organises an annual dinner with a guest mathematical speaker.

‘Many thanks for the great academic support which Balliol provided. The quality of education at Balliol and Oxford is absolutely top-notch — the contact hours were great, tutorials were challenging and enjoyable, and the syllabus was good fun. All in all I had a great time at Balliol.’ — Nicholas Buckner (Balliol 2014), who achieved a first-class degree in Computer Science and Philosophy

Number of places at Balliol: Altogether around 6 students are typically admitted each year in Computer Science & Philosophy, Computer Science, and Mathematics & Computer Science.

Student experience

‘Many thanks for the great academic support which Balliol provided. The quality of education at Balliol and Oxford is absolutely top-notch — the contact hours were great, tutorials were challenging and enjoyable, and the syllabus was good fun. All in all I had a great time at Balliol.’ — Nicholas Buckner (Balliol 2014)

‘The tutors are really great and approachable, and the informal atmosphere avoids making things as awkward as you might expect, with two students face to face with a leading researcher. The best aspect of the course is probably that both halves are so different (and yet also very interconnected), so I can ‘take a break’ from trying to figure out how Oberon (an obscure programming language we use in second term) works, and instead question whether I would survive being teleported to Mars.’ – Tiffany Duneau (Balliol 2016)

Tutors

About the course

Please see the Department of Computer Science website and the University’s course pages.

Course requirements and selection criteria

Please see:

• the University’s entrance requirements
• the Philosophy Faculty admissions criteria and the Department of Computer Science admissions criteria.

How to apply to read Computer Science and Philosophy at Balliol College