UTECH Comp Sci. Degree now needs 2 A'-Levels

[Xenocrates]

As of Academic Year 2006/07, as a part of the University of Technology's continuing effort to upgrade the quality of the degree program and as well as to comply with newly required measures for Degree accreditation internationally (particularly at the Michigan Institute of Technology), the university now requires prospective incumbents to be aware of the following changes:

• In addition to 5 cxc's and / or O'levels including Mathematics, English and a science subject (preferrably physics), you are now required to have at least two A'Level subjects, one of which preferrably should be A-Level Computer Science. Preference will be given to prospective incumbents who have A'Level Computer Science and either Information Technology at the CXC level or Computer Science at the O'Level.
  
  
• The current 4-year Bachelor's of Science in Computing & Information Technology will be phased out come June 2006, and now be replaced by a 5-year Bachelor's of Science degree course in Computer Science.
  
  
• The academic year beginning September 2005/06 is the last time that the 4-year B.Sc. degree course in Computing and Information Technology (which only requires 5 CXCs/O'Levels with Mathematics, English & Physics) will be carried at the university. After that iteration, it will be deprecated permanently.
  
  
• Prospective incumbents for the academic year beginning September 2005/06 should prepare themselves for an aptitude test earlier in the year than the usual mid-summer time frame. Details should be mailed to you in your packages or you may (preferrably) pre-empt this effort by acquiring a new copy of the synopsis for the degree courses available at UTECH. As always, it is always wiser to seek the information before it is sent to you.

[willy]

thanks for the heads up xeno

[Xenocrates]

I should also let you know that the UTECH degree program has as of yesterday, secured international accreditation through the University Council of Jamaica. Yeah you heard right. Now we're in a similar league to the University of the West Indies. It's ooon bra.

But one of the most important revisions has been the following updates: The final year of the degree program has been revised into two majors which succinctly follow industry standard certifications:

Enterprise Computing - Microsoft Certified System Developer/Microsoft Certified Database Administrator. Students will specialize in programming with the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment with strong course focus on Enterprise management using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and related tools. End-to-end/multi-tier applications using a combination of various front/back ends for e-commerce and web development are all a part of the course.

Data Communications - Microsoft Certified System Engineer, Microsoft Windows Server 2003/XP (or current industry standard). The course contents follow the exact course material covered in any given MCSE certification program including functional requirements enabling students to build/deploy/manage Win2k3 server machines and workstations. Advanced networking concepts are provided with the course. You may optionally choose to undertake the MCSE exams after the completion of this course, as you will be using MCSE course material (including textbooks, study guides and software).

So if you plan to acquire any of these certifications before doing your degree, take my advice? DON'T BOTHER.

Apply to UTECH, get your degree and then do your cert exams after final year since the cert content is already a part of the course. UTECH makes acquiring your certs THAT much easier. Save yourself an extra 200k from doing the same course at another specialized institution.

Oh by the way, your new school fee is now in excess of $113,000 - for new first year students. However, it will run you in excess of $128,000 if you're doing the degree part time. That's a steal compared to the skills you get when you leave in final year compared to other local universities. Subsequent years should see an estimated 25% increase for each year. So budget for that increase before you plan to apply and don't bother with the road block justice like my friends up the road. m'kay?

And one more thing, if you don't have A-Levels, you might want to run down to UTECH and pickup some application forms like today? Cuz if you don't get in this year, you're going to be up against some fierce competition and some extra hassle come 2006.

You heard it on TechJamaica first. Happy Hunting.

[Malloc-X]

what if you have an Associate degree from another institution do you still need A levels?

[Xenocrates]

If you apply for Academic year 2005/06, it's likely they'll start you from the second year. If you apply, find out about getting exemptions from student affairs. The reason why you start from second year is that you will be exempted from all of the course content in the first year.

Although UTECH usually starts you from the second year with an Associate Degree, they won't do it automatically. You have to talk to the people at the student adninistration desk about it or the School of Computing Student Affairs desk on the first floor of the Engineering Building. You will be given an additional form to fill out. But you have to do it EARLY, because those accreditations require a content sensitive report of your performance to be sent to UTECH from the previous institution. Usually they take a while to create this report, so if you plan to go in 2005, you need to HAUL *****!

If you're going in for 2006/07, you need to find out what your Associate Degree will be worth without A'Levels. At best, I can tell you that you will get a large number of exemptions and second year will be a breeze - since you'll probably end up doing only 1 or 2 course for the entire year.

[death_knight]

good looking out xeno i'm gonna head up there tomorrow if possible to get my application

[icuucme]

where did u get the info about the accreditation?

[megiddo]

tomorrow utech is closed i believe, because of tag drive

[Nastrodamus]

Ok. uummm, I am no genius in this field, but I don't think UWI's Courses are accredited by the UCJ but by an accrediting body out of England. Should this be true then it could be as a result of UWI not necessarily being a Jamaican University, but rather a Trinidad University based in several locations in the caribbean. <correct me if i am wrong on this>

This is good that UTECH has gotten international accreditation through the UCJ. Their courses has been (as we have discussed from time to time) more hands on and practical than that of the UWI.

5 years though is kinda a long time to get just a Bachelors. Just my take on it.

[AngelsKiss]

Something you should know, when you talk about international accreditation (or any accrediation for that matter), it's good to know what accreditation body that the course/school is accredited by. There are many accreditations. Note also, the University (school) accreditation is different from the degree/program accrediations.

For example...using MIT, they are accredited by New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. However, many of their programs are accredited by various professional accrediting bodies, eg:

American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
American Chemical Society
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Computer Science Accreditation Board, the National Architectural Accrediting Board
Planning Accreditation Board

I mentioned this, because if you plan to do further studies or work in north America, it is important to note the various acreditation bodies, especially in certain fields like engineering which requires specific accreditation.