Quality Tertiary Education to Prosper Your Future at BCAS
The British College of Applied Studies, commonly known as BCAS Campus is a private tertiary education provider established in 1999. Since its inception, the institute has transformed into a leading vocational and tertiary training provider in Sri Lanka, with a student centric approach. Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegama- DeanAcademic Affairs at BCAS spoke about the institute and the advantages students receive by selecting BCAS.
Prof Hirimburegama has led an illustrious career in within the Sri Lankan education system, being the first lady Chairperson of the University Grants Commission in Sri Lanka and the Former Vice Chancellor, University of Colombo. As such, she has a treasure trove of knowledge and experience regarding the country’s tertiary education system and she sees that there are numerous positive aspects to be found in the courses offered by BCAS.
While state universities offer highly recognized degrees, not every student can enter a state university and a large number of students find their aspirations to enter a state university barred once their A/L results are released. While some students have the opportunity to pursue their tertiary education outside Sri Lanka, there are still a significantly large number of students who cannot afford to go abroad. For such students, as well as students who do not want to go abroad, finding a private tertiary education provider is the viable option.
As an ISO 9001: 2008 certified institution, BCAS maintain the highest level of quality and standards across all their courses. In addition, Prof Hirimburegama stated that the quality of BCAS is also maintained by Edexcel now Pearson, US and BCAS partner University of Wolverhampton and London South Bank University, UKwhich is in turn associated with the UK Quality Assurance Agency. Each program delivered by BCAS is inspected biannually, both external verifications and internal verifications to assure consistency in quality.
BCAS has eight campuses spread throughout the country; Colombo, Mount Lavinia, Kandy, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Kalmune and Kurunegala and an oversea center in Doha Qata. While students around the country can complete the first two years of their HND programme at the campus nearest to their homes, they can come to Colombo only to complete their top up degree.
BCAS offers almost 30 programs, among which courses in law, biomedical science, IT, business management and MBA courses are vastly popular among students. Another advantage that students receive is that they can complete their BTEC HND and take a break, get employed and come back later to get their top-up degree offered by BCAS’ partner university, the University of Wolverhampton and London South Bank University.
BCAS is also the first private institute to offer the Quantity Survey courses which still has sustained a high demand. BCAS also has a branch in Qatar, which means that once students complete their BTEC HND programme, they can migrate to Qatar, become employed and complete the top-up degree at the Qatar branch.
BCAS offers quality tertiary education programs at an economical rate, so that students can receive a quality education, build a career for themselves and transform their lives easily without incurring heavy debts.
There are weekend programs targeted towards working students as well as a programme catering to students pending their O/L or A/L examination results, Access which combines IT and English is very important for students to upgrade their knowledge in English and IT.
The student oriented top-up degree is taught by permanent lecturers as well as industry experts whose qualifications are accepted by the University of Wolverhampton. UK academics too arrive to deliver a few modules for the top-up degree.
BCAS also offers postgraduate and MSc programmes and Prof Hirimburegama stated that the institute is planning to introduce PhD programs in the near future.
When it comes to biomedical science research, the research is supervised externally, by professors associated with state universities. “Research is good,” Prof Hirimburegama said, “especially in IT”. When it comes to publication, BCAS began research symposium last year and is planning an international research symposium in collaboration with the partner university this year.
Should the student wish to transfer to a university abroad to complete the university, BCAS facilitates the transfer.
Prof Hirimburegama also stated that BCAS has produced a number of entrepreneurs especially in the IT sector who have gone on to establish their own companies.
“It’s a good system,” she said, “and because of that, opportunities are expanded. And almost everyone is employed”. In conclusion, she spoke about the importance of providing a quality education for the students so that they have the necessary tools to improve their lives.
For the past few decades IT has been one of the more favoured professional qualifications to be earned. Across the city of Colombo and elsewhere, numerous institutes and campuses offer degrees and diplomas in this field.
Bringing another dimension to this professional qualification is the soon-to-be opened Lanka Nippon BizTech Institute (LNBTI), a Japanese-based technology university with an ambition to offer high-quality Software Engineering and Information Technology related studies and Japanese language classes.
One of the main advantages of studying at the LNBTI is the potential of securing immediate employment opportunities in Sri Lanka, Japan and other countries in the region. This is possible due to the highly regulated Japanese quality business culture courses, and its Higher IT curriculum that has been formulated to supply industry ready professionals to the Japanese and Sri Lankan related IT industry market.
The LNBTI is a partnership between two leading IT companies, Metatechno Japan, a company that specializes in developing Embedded Software for Electronics and Computing devices manufacturers around the world, and hSenid International, an application and service provider for the telecom, financial and enterprise markets. Both these companies have international recognition and close ties with Japan.
Why LNBTI. Advantages in Employment
The LNBTI, scheduled to open in July 2016 in a purposefully built campus in Maharagama, is based on Japanese skills, knowl- edge and knowhow and will offer a JLPT N2 level diploma and a Japanese higher IT skill certificate. This qualification is designed to improve skills that can be utilized in practical industry fields where students are expected to gain entry into new markets combining advanced technologiesto actively lead the industry.After graduation, students will also make an active contribution to the Sri Lankan ICT industry by expanding ICT related contracts from Japan and penetrating the Japanese market.
Japan is among the largest