In early days to receive higher education in Sri Lanka, the only method that a student had was to , study hard and sit for the very competitive G.C.E. Advanced Level examination and get in to a state university. However, due to the extremely limited capacity in the state universities, more than 80% of the student population ended up without being able to attain higher education. Only those with more affluent parents had the option of going abroad to complete a degree and the others were left behind without a choice.
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| Mrs.Vishaka Nanayakkara - Head of School of IT and Electrical Engineering, Northshore College of Business and Technology and Former head of Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa |
However, this scenario changed in the last few years of the 20th century as Sri Lanka slowly became a hub of foreign universities. Many institutes started to represent various universities from around the world and the students were able to obtain a foreign degree for a more affordable cost. But this practice could not assure the students the typical study environment of a university.
What makes Northshore College of Business and Technology different is that it offers the students high quality degrees based in a typical university environment. Located in Colombo 15, Northshore was built with an investment of over one billion in order to provide the state of art facilities to the students. Northshore College consists of laboratories, libraries. indoor and outdoor sports facilities and all the other facilities which can be seen in a typical university. Students learning environment will have learning management system based on Moodle. The faculty consists of highly qualified staff who have both teaching experience in local and foreign universities and industrial exposure in Sri Lanka.
Northshore College of Business and Technology, offers four IT programmes of University of the West of England (UWE) which include of BSc [Hons] in Business Information and Technology, BSc [Hons] in Software Engineering, BSc [Hons] in Computer Science and BSc [Hons] in Computing. Northshore will also be starting Engineering degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Construction and Civil Engineering in April 2012.
UWE is the 6th largest university in the UK and the largest in the southwest of England. After a careful research on the market needs and employment opportunities that a student would get at the completion of a degree, Northshore decided on providing the above mentioned degrees to the Sri Lankan students.
A special feature of these programmes is that the 1st year of the degree is a common year for all 4 programmes. The students get the opportunity to study the core concepts of IT and then decide on which path they would be most interested in. This is especially beneficial to the students who would like to leave their options open until they know about the industry requirements and opportunities better.
The duration of the IT degree programmes offered at Northshore is 3 years. However, between the 2nd and the 3rd year, the student can take a year out and have industrial placements to get more practical experience . The students also have the option of going to the UWE to complete the degree after completing the 1st or the 2nd year.
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| Northshore College of Business and Technology |
There is a huge demand for properly qualified IT professionals in the IT industry. The job opportunities are endless for those who have the required practical and theoretical knowledge. Unlike in the past, theoretical knowledge is not enough to secure a good job. The students need to develop their soft skills such as assertiveness, leadership and presentation skills etc. in order to be able to work in the international arena. At Northshore there is a special programme called ‘Northshore career development plan’ which focus more on language skills, communication and presentation skills, leadership skills etc which is offered throughout all 3 years.
The IT industry is fast growing and is a well paying industry. SLASSCOM says that they needs over 6000 graduates per year. The state universities produce only just over 1000 IT graduates a year. Therefore there is a requirement and a great demand for the IT graduates. Sri Lankan businesses have different niche areas in IT. Therefore the graduates have the option of securing employment in various areas in the job markets.
For more information please contact Northshore College of Business and Technology, 141, Church Rd, Colombo 15. Telephone : +94 11 436 9092. Email : info@northshore.lk or visit www.northshore.lk. |
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