December 22, 2016 | UHCL Staff
Effective fall 2017, University of Houston-Clear Lake students seeking a degree with a strong information technology focus through the university’s College of Science and Engineering have a new option with the addition of a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.
To date, students majoring in IT have been working toward a Bachelor of Applied Science degree, which will continue to be offered.
“The main difference between the two degree programs is that every student currently on the Bachelor of Applied Science track is a transfer student, while the Bachelor of Science in IT will be open to freshmen,” said Krishani Abeysekera, program chair of Information Technology and senior lecturer of Computer Science and Computer Information Systems. “The Bachelor of Science in IT delivers the tools students need to meet the rising demand in networking, systems administration, application programming, web development, and cybersecurity across public, private, non-profit and government entities worldwide.”
The new Bachelor of Science degree will be open to freshmen and is considered a non-terminal degree, meaning that students with the new degree may wish to move on to a doctoral program or other advanced study.
“Students will be able to transfer some credits to the university to be accepted into the degree program, but not as many as with the Bachelor of Applied Science,” she said.
Abeysekera said that a number of Bachelor of Applied Science students are already expressing interest in moving to the new degree program in the fall.
“We see many of them are willing to take the additional classes to get the Bachelor of Science,” said Abeysekera.
The new Bachelor of Science requires a senior-year internship, which Abeysekera said is facilitated through the university’s Department of Computing Sciences.
“We have already established very good working relationships with a number of area companies, including American National Insurance, Colombia-Brazoria Independent School District, Perry Homes, Oiltanking North America, Associated Credit Union of Texas, and Spire Realty Houston,” she said. “Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA to gain entry into the internship program, and we have had very good outcomes thus far with our students.”
To find out more about the new degree program, contact the College of Science and Engineering Advising Office by calling 281-283-3711 or emailing cseadvising@uhcl.edu.
