Students to benefit as StFX, NSCC sign new computer science agreement

April 1st, 2016

This month, the two institutions inked an articulation agreement permitting NSCC graduates who have completed the two-year Information Technology (IT) diploma in the database application programming concentration, the programming concentration or the web programming concentration and have earned a 75 per cent or higher average to apply for admission to enter directly into the third year of an honours Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science at StFX.

 

The agreement represents a meaningful step forward in the relationship between StFX and NSCC, and helps provide students with further education opportunities, those involved say.   

 

“I’m really pleased to see this agreement,” says StFX Dean of Arts Dr. Karen Brebner. “This is the second articulation degree we have with NSCC and we’re actively exploring the potential of future developments that may be of benefit to their students and to our students. There are benefits to all of us if we work together.”

 

Dr. Wendy MacCaull, chair of StFX’s Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, says the partnership was a good match. Many of the courses in the NSSC program transferred well into StFX’s BA in computer science degree. 

 

“This agreement is especially important as universities across North America aren’t graduating enough students in computer science. There is a huge demand for computer science graduates. These skills make students very marketable and very much in demand.”

 

With a number of NSCC campuses located across the province, the agreement reaches out to people across Nova Scotia who are not geographically near and broadens StFX’s ability to make these connections and to help better serve the people of Nova Scotia, Dr. Brebner says.

 

“Bringing these students into our classrooms, students who have been applying and practicing their skills in the NSCC program, will enhance the learning experience for everyone. The students come from different backgrounds and they will be able to learn from each other and trade off their strengths. It will be good for everybody,” Dr. Brebner says.

 

StFX has also recently restructured its computer science degree (www.stfx.ca/news/view/19301/), offering several new courses and concentrations, all designed to meet the demands of today’s society. “We’ve put a great deal of effort into making computer science accessible because it is needed more broadly,” Dr. MacCaull says.