Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) under its School of Computing & Informatics (SCI) has successfully attained dual partial accreditation from British Computer Society (BCS) for its Master of Science (By Coursework) in Computing and Information System.
The BCS is the Chartered Institute for IT, a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in information technology and computer science, both in the United Kingdom and internationally. BCS accreditation of degrees is an important benchmark of the standard of Higher Education programmes and their contribution to the IT profession.
As part of SCI ongoing project and responsibility to maintain and develop standard educational qualifications, the programme is accredited as partial Chartered IT Professional (CITP) and partial Chartered Engineer (CEng) (Further Learning). This means upon graduation, UTB graduates will be partially fulfilled the academic requirements for registration as a CITP and/or a CEng.
SCI has been engaging with BCS by becoming an Educational Affiliate since 2017 and received the accreditation for its Bachelor of Science courses including BSc (Hons) in Computing, BSc (Hons) in Internet Computing, BSc (Hons) in Creative Multimedia, BSc (Hons) in Digital Media, and BSc (Hons) in Computer Network and Security.
This accreditation has placed strong emphasis on the legal, social, ethic and professional issues related to the computing industries. Some important highlights resulting from the accreditation process included: ensuring the learning outcomes of the School are well mapped and represented in every programme, final year projects are kept to the highest standard with comprehensive guidelines and supervisions, and ensuring the majority of modules taught across all programmes meet the criteria of international industrial standards and best practices.
According to Dr Mohamad Saiful bin Hj Omar, Dean of SCI; with this BCS accreditation, it means SCI programmes are internationally recognised and benchmarked, offering our prospective and graduate students an important mark of assurance that the programme meets the highest standards set by the IT profession.
“Alhamdullilah with this achievement it will provide our graduates with a pathway to professional registration such as Chartered IT Professional (CITP) and Chartered Engineer status (CEng). Most importantly it provides added advantage for our graduates when looking for a job as some employers may look for graduates with accredited degrees”, said the Dean of SCI.
Meanwhile, Dr Hajah Nor Zainah binti Hj Siau, Deputy Dean of SCI as well as the SCI Accreditation Coordinator, also added that it is important to achieve this accreditation for the recognition of the quality of the SCI programmes, meeting the high standards set by BCS and to ensure the programmes provide an appropriate foundation for the graduates’ entrant to IT profession.
She also highlighted that the important benefit of this accreditation is the opportunity to consult at length with experts and getting feedback for the School’s programmes and modules for development and improvement. “The exchange is invaluable in ensuring our School’s future direction and was an important agenda for BCS.”
