The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC)
BSC Information Technology
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NEXT START DATE: 03 April 2023 -
CREDITS: 120 -
FEES: $2,240 USD PER
YEAR
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Learn how to solve real-world IT problems
This BSc Information Technology has been created to equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to succeed in a real work environment. The course content is informed by current practice in the field, so when you graduate you’ll be a sought-after skilled professional.
The rigorous programme balances professional competencies and academic requirements, so you will learn how to solve real-world IT problems whilst developing transferrable skills that will prepare you for a successful career.
What you'll learn
On this degree, you will develop strong analytical and critical thinking skills to thrive in a competitive global environment. The course content is underpinned by the information technology industry’s need for information systems personnel, and you will gain hands-on experience of dealing with challenges that are applicable to your career.
Develop key problem solving and critical thinking skills
Gain good interpersonal communication and team skills
Become fluent in techniques for acquiring, converting and storing data
Modules
Alongside the core modules below, throughout your degree you will also choose four additional elective modules to study from other bachelor's programmes.
Academic Writing I
This is a writing course focusing on expository writings. Basic editing principles are covered and applied to all writing. Selected essays are read and examined as examples of the expository styles to improve critical reading skills, grammar skills, and essay writing. Research techniques and documentation are also emphasised as methods to enhance writing.
Computer Information Systems
This introductory course provides the necessary background for understanding the role of information systems in organisations and for using computer tools and technology in solving business problems. The main concepts covered include: types and categories of computers; software and hardware components; storage; computer networks; and operating systems, with an emphasis on analysing problems and creating solutions. In the practical section of the course, you will gain hands-on experience using Office productivity tools.
Computer Data Analysis
This is an introductory course that allows you to format, calculate, and analyse data. The course will equip you with the skills needed to use a spreadsheet and python programs. Topics include: numerical and graphical summaries of data; hypothesis testing; confidence intervals; counts and tables; analysis of variance; regression; principal components; and cluster analysis. Upon completion of this course, you should be able to think critically about data and apply standard statistical inference procedures to draw conclusions from such analyses.
Introduction to Sociology
This introductory course seeks to provide an overview of sociology as a discipline. It lays the foundation for you to apply the various theoretical perspectives to contemporary social problems, especially relating to the world of work.
Mobile Application Development
This course will introduce you to the core conceptual skills and basic practices needed to develop an Android application. The course will focus on how the application communicates to retrieve, store and interact with other devices on any android platform. Topics will include memory management, user interface design, user interface building, input methods, data handling, and network techniques.
Introduction to Psychology
This introductory course in psychology is designed to give you a basic understanding of human behaviour. You will learn the major psychological theories that will allow you to explain and predict human behaviour. The emphasis will be on examining your behaviour and the behaviour of others within an organisational context.
Operating Systems
The course introduces the fundamentals of operating systems design and implementation. Topics include an overview of the components of an operating system, mutual exclusion and synchronisation, implementation of processes, scheduling algorithms, memory management, and file systems. The course explains the issues and influence of the contemporary operating systems designs and may include a laboratory component to enable you to experiment with operating systems.
Discrete Mathematics I
This course will introduce you to the basic idea of how computer systems are designed and will provide a realistic picture of the internal workings and design of computer systems.
Academic Writing II
This module is an introduction to the analysis of critical thinking. The module aims to impart a skill in the ability to recognise and to construct common types of cogent and non-cogent reasoning in a structured and written way.
Public Speaking
The course is designed to integrate theory and practice in preparing professionals for public speaking assignments. You will be provided with the opportunity to develop skills in the preparation and delivery of speeches for specific types of professional occasions.
Principles of Marketing
The aim of this course is to enable you to understand how to develop a marketing plan for new ventures. The skills and knowledge learnt will enable you to identify which marketing techniques and theories are most suitable for new ventures, whether they are for creating a new business or within an existing organisation. This course examines the theory and practice of marketing for entrepreneurial ventures. This course provides a roadmap for you to employ the tools and techniques of entrepreneurial marketing to create a sustainable competitive advantage.
Introduction to Politics
This course exposes you to the nature and main forms of Caribbean political institutions and government, as well as the region’s significant culture manifestations. This course does not assume prior knowledge of core concepts. It introduces you to the major methods, approaches and issues of political science, helping to give you grounding in the conceptual and practical fundamentals of the discipline. It provides a comprehensive overview of the following areas of study: the nature of politics and its phenomena; the major processes and arrangements which shape political behaviour; involvement and perspectives; the challenges posed to and adaptations made by existing political systems; and, through a comparative approach with the Caribbean, the organisation of political systems in other countries and an evaluation of how well their structures and processes work.
College Algebra
This course will expose you to principles of algebra for the college level. You will gain an understanding of numerical and algebraic relationships and be able to formulate problems into mathematical terms, select, apply and communicate appropriate techniques of solution and interpret the solutions in terms of the problem.
Computer Essentials & Troubleshooting I
This course aims to provide you with the basic functionality of the operating system and troubleshooting methodology, how to practice proper safety procedures, and enables you to improve your skills in PC support and administration. By completing this course, you will also be assisted in the preparation of the technical support qualifications, and the CompTIA A+ Core 1 220-1001 exam.
Programming Techniques
This course will introduce you to programming concepts. You will learn proper programming design techniques, principles and basic programming concepts. The focus of the course is to develop the logics, structured design, tracing and testing techniques, and rudiments of basic programming language. Programming techniques serves as the foundation course for all other programming courses.
Data Communication & Networks I
This introductory course in data communications and networks is designed to give you an understanding of networks and how they can be used in organisations to increase efficiency. It will also introduce IP addressing and subnets and briefly look at security issues in networking.
Calculus I
This module is designed to develop knowledge of differential and integral calculus. Emphasis is placed on limits, continuity, derivatives and integrals of algebraic and transcendental functions of one variable. Upon completion, you should be able to select and use appropriate models and techniques for finding solutions to derivative-related and integral-related problems with and without technology.
Computer Essentials & Troubleshooting II
This is an advanced practical course that will broaden knowledge on PC installation, configuration, mobile devices and networking. By completing this course, you will also be assisted in the preparation of the technical support qualifications and the CompTIA A+ 220-902 exam which is a building block for other certifications such as Network+ and Security+.
Database Management Systems
This course covers the concepts related to database management and design using a variant of MYSQL. With the use of database systems, you will understand the capabilities and limitations of a system. Lectures will cover relational database design, normalization, SQL queries, reports, database data and documentation. In-class activities will focus on creating interactive and secure database applications.
Internet Authoring I
This introductory course will introduce you to the tools needed to develop and publish websites. At the end of this course you should be able to comfortably design, develop and publish your site on the Internet. You will also be exposed to selected internet authoring tools to develop and publish web pages.
Object Oriented Programming using C++
This course aims to broaden your knowledge of concepts and features of an object-oriented programming language. You will be required to use these concepts to design solutions for real-world problems.
Discrete Mathematics II
This course builds on the fundamentals of discrete mathematics covered in Discrete Mathematics I. The main focus will be on developing a sound theoretical foundation for further work in computer science and information science. The topics covered in this course will not be exhaustive to discrete structures but will provide the basis for pursuing other advanced courses in discrete structures and mathematics.
IT Capstone Project I
A supervised group assignment in the development of information technology infrastructure for an organisation. You will select an organisation whose IT needs are not well-addressed, and design a completely integrated prototype including IT administration structure, hardware, software, and technology needs.
Data Structures and File Management I
This course will introduce basic algorithms and data structures in computer science. It will also introduce you to the mathematical analysis of algorithms, and provide efficient programming techniques.
Technical Writing for Digital Media
This introductory course will provide you with professional and technical writing skills necessary for today’s workplace. It will also introduce the principles of audience analysis, research and documentation, drafting and revision processes, readability and accessibility of written texts, and web technologies.
System Analysis and Design
This course covers the design of information systems and takes you right through to object oriented systems analysis and design using UML. The course will explore all aspects of the systems development life cycle (SDLC). The classes will use case studies to give you a practical sense of systems analysis and design and to introduce the concepts, methodologies, tools and techniques that can be used to develop systems.
Building Application using C#
This course exposes you to the development of desktop and internet applications using the popular C# language. Accordingly, you will be exposed to basic OOP concepts such as classes, inheritance and overloading. Additionally, basic programming concepts such as variable creation and manipulation, modularity and the use of control structures will be reviewed.
Internet Authoring II
This course continues from Internet Authoring I, covering some of the same topics in more depth. This course includes coverage of topics in networking technologies for the web, web UI design and site design, client-server architecture and client-side and server-side programming. It covers relevant topics in e-commerce, web security, and engineering concepts such as the three-tier architecture and frameworks for the web. It provides an introduction to mobile web issues and web multimedia.
Information Assurance and Security
The information technology (IT) professional must understand, apply, and manage information assurance and security (IAS) in computing, communication, and organisational systems. It is also important for the IT professional to provide users with a framework to be sufficiently security aware to be an asset to the organisation rather than a liability. This course includes operational issues, policies and procedures, attacks and defense mechanisms, risk analyses, recovery, and information security.
Human Computer Interaction and Interface Design
This course provides an introduction to the field of human-computer interaction (HCI), an interdisciplinary field that integrates cognitive psychology, design, computer science and others. Examining the human factors associated with information systems provides you with knowledge to understand what influences usability and acceptance of Information Systems (IS). This course will examine human performance, components of technology, methods and techniques used in design and evaluation of IS. Societal impacts of HCI such as accessibility will also be discussed. User-centered design methods will be introduced and evaluated. This course will also introduce you to the contemporary technologies used in empirical evaluation methods.
Information Technology Audit and Control
This course introduces the fundamental concepts of the information technology audit and control function. The main focus of this course is on understanding information controls, the types of controls and their impact on the organisation, and how to manage and audit them. The concepts and techniques used in information technology audits will be presented. You will learn the process of creating a control structure with goals and objectives, audit an information technology infrastructure against it, and establish a systematic remediation procedure for any inadequacies. The challenge of dealing with best practices, standards, and regulatory requirements governing information and controls is addressed.
Cloud Computing
This course is designed to introduce the concept of cloud computing as the new computing technology and will explore the different computing technologies, including infrastructure as a service, platform, software and physical system. Real case scenarios and market cloud-based tools will be introduced and identified in order to provide you with a better understanding of cloud computing applications.
Entrepreneurship for IT Professionals
This course aims to provide you with an understanding of the nature of enterprise and entrepreneurship and introduces the role of the entrepreneur, innovation and technology in the entrepreneurial process. The course content is relevant to those individuals thinking about starting a business or who are already in business - large or small, and those who are interested in commercialising their own innovations or of others.
Enterprise Application Development
This course will allow you to implement n-tier applications to automate a business process using a business logic layer, a data access layer, and a database back-end. You will learn how to build small applications and user interface (front-end) that may include Java enterprise environment (JEE), the Microsoft .NET environment, Enterprise Android programming, cloud computing, security and database repository.
Project+
This course is aimed at providing you with the tools and techniques needed for successful project management. The references will mainly be drawn from IT-related projects. This course will certify that the successful candidate has important core knowledge of the project life cycle, roles and skills necessary to effectively initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control, and close a project.
IT Capstone Project II
This course is an advanced module following IT Capstone Project I and includes a supervised group assignment in the development of information technology infrastructure for an organisation. You will select an organisation whose IT needs are not well-addressed, and design a completely integrated system including IT administration structure, hardware, software, and technology needs.
Career opportunities
This BSc Information Technology degree has been developed with the needs of the industry in mind. On successful completion of this programme, you will have the skills needed to excel in IT in the modern work environment.
Data security
Networking
Software development
Web design and development
Entry requirements
Secondary (High) School diploma, GED, or Certificate of Equivalency / Proficiency or Passes in 5 GCE O Level / CSEC passes at A, B or C / I,II or III (including Mathematics and English) or International Baccalaureate (IB) or equivalent (subject to UCC Global’s approval)
Students who have successfully completed undergraduate program credits may be eligible to transfer up to 60 of those credits to the UCC Global program. Final determination on the eligibility of the transfer of credits will be made once your application and transcript(s) are received, reviewed, and approved by UCC Global.
English language requirements
The language of instruction at UCC Global is English. Applicants whose most recent education was not in English will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency, through the completion of an approved English testing regime such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Both TOEFL paper-based (PBT) and TOEFL Internet-based (IBT) will be accepted.
Fees
You have the option to either pay for your degree in full at the start, or pay per module.
Students based in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean will be eligible for scholarships.
Pricing
Total cost: $2,240 USD per year
Cost per module: $280 USD