School of IT receives BCS accreditation

11 Apr 2019
11 Apr 2019

BCS
The School of IT is pleased to announce that a number of its degree programmes have officially been accredited by the British Computer Society’s (BCS) Chartered Institute for IT.

With an A1 recommendation, the BCS has unconditionally accredited the following degree programmes:

  • BSc (Honours) in Computer Science
  • Bachelor of Business Science with Honours in Computer Science
  • BCom (Hons) in Information Systems
  • Bachelor of Business Science with Honours in Information Systems

Accredited degrees entitle students to apply for professional membership of the BCS and meets the evidence of breadth of knowledge in the assessment for registration as a Chartered IT Professional (CITP). Professional Membership and BCS Chartered status carry the right to use the post nominal letters MBCS (Member of the British Computer Society) and CITP (Certified Information Technology Professional).

 “We believe this accreditation will give our students greater international career opportunities, and enable them to become part of the global IT community,” says School of IT director, Professor Ulrike Rivett.

UCT is one of only two institutions in Africa recognised by the BCS. Students graduating with one the accredited programmes will be able to work internationally without having to take further examinations.

The BCS accreditation panel commended the following areas of the School of IT’s programme:

For Information Systems:

  • Global Citizenship and Outreach combined with Legal, Social, Ethical and Professional Issues; the integrated approach into the Information Technology programmes was recognised as an area of Best Practice.

For Computer Science and Information Systems:

  • The integration of Information and Communications Technologies for Development provides contextualised learning; meeting local and international stakeholder needs and was recognised as good practice.
  • Industry and employers are integrated into the development and delivery of the curriculum. All students complete a live project which requires them to engage effectively with employers. International internships are also available to students.
  • The first-year student experience: The Departments take an extremely diverse student cohort and support them thereafter, according to their individual requirements.
  • The opportunities given to students to do research papers and to attend overseas conferences.
  • The Honours projects which involve real life examples is good practice.

“The BCS Institute appreciated the quality of our degree programmes and commended how well we integrated the context of South Africa and the continent into our teaching. We are moving the IT programmes beyond teaching mere technical skills, and instead providing an education to equip our students to contribute to all aspects of the 4th industrial revolution,” said Rivett.