​SAT programmes get BCS accreditation

Seven programmes from XJTLU’s School of Advanced Technology have obtained accreditation from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

BCS, formerly known as the British Computer Society, is an internationally respected professional body with nearly 70,000 members in more than 150 countries. It has delivered 250,000 professional certifications worldwide, and programmes qualified for accreditation should meet BCS’s rigorous standards for teaching, practice, academic research, and student experience.

The BCS accreditation panel had scheduled an onsite visit to the School of Advanced Technology, but the visit was conducted remotely due to the pandemic. Every five years, BCS will re-evaluate the accredited programmes to make sure the quality is constantly in line with the relevant criteria.

The school accreditation officer, Dr Kok Hoe Wong from the Department of Computing, says earning the accreditation guarantees the programmes have quality academic support, curriculum structure, experimental facilities, and learning outcomes.

All of the accredited undergraduate programmes meet the academic standards set by BCS for registration as Chartered IT Professionals (CITP) and partially meet the criteria for Chartered Engineers (CEng), while all of the accredited masters programmes partially meet the requirements for Chartered IT Professionals and Chartered Engineers.

“This shows that the School of Advanced Technology can equip students with the knowledge and skills required to join the relevant professional societies. Graduates from the accredited programmes will thus enjoy easier registration as a Chartered IT Professional or Chartered Engineer,” Dr Wong adds. “They will have a competitive edge in the job market, and for those who want to work abroad, being a member of these societies is a basic requirement.”

Professor Eng Gee Lim, Dean of the School of Advanced Technology, says: “We are greatly honoured to have our programmes accredited by BCS. This allows us to showcase XJTLU’s inclusive learning environment and resources, and the accreditation is also a commendation for our teaching quality.

“Additionally, several programmes have been accredited by the Institute of Engineering and Technology.”

He adds: “Except for the newly launched ones, all of the engineering and computer science programmes in the School of Advanced Technology have been accredited by professional bodies. We will continually optimise our teaching, connect students more closely with the professional world, and give students better support in their further studies and employment.”

The following programmes in the School of Advanced Technology are accredited by international professional societies:

IET accredited programmes
Undergraduate:
· BEng Electrical Engineering
· BEng Electronic Science and Technology
· BEng Telecommunications Engineering
· BEng Digital Media Technology

Masters:
· MSc Sustainable Energy Technology
· MSc Multimedia Telecommunications

BCS accredited programmes
Undergraduate:
· BEng Computer Science and Technology
· BSc Information and Computing Systems
· BEng Digital Media Technology

Masters:
· MSc Applied Informatics
· MSc Social Computing
· MRes Computing Science
· MRes Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Systems

By Huatian Jin
Translated by Xueqi Wang
Edited by Patricia Pieterse