Friday, July 18, 2014

Aim High – Willingness to IT is waiting to take off

You are travelling by a bus. You buy the ticket from the conductor. He issues you, a ticket with an Electronic Ticketing machine. You are going to the food city, on your way home, and settle your bill for the data connection, provided by your ISP, through their online payment system, where your account gets immediately updated. You search in e-bay and order items and pay by your credit card while you are at your home. You watch your favorite 3D movie in your home theatre system. You call your dad who is working in USA with Skype.

Seriously, did you ever imagine such things to be experienced, some good ten years back? What is this? Everything is becoming to be at your fingertips! It’ is all about IT. This is the era of IT.
Everything is critically getting Information Technologically prepared for the future, despite of economic terms. Due to the development of electronic infrastructure and increasing of number of users and growth of usage of IT equipment, so that becoming affordable, integrating IT to their businesses has been the latest trend of the modern business owners.

Growing up in such an era, IT has become an essential part of our lives. IT helps us to, be productive all the time, perform tasks being less time consuming, manage tasks easier, reduce costs, and  simply makes our lives easier a hundreds of times as normal. So as a person, it is demanding to be knowledgeable in IT.

IT being, so demanding and so influential of the infrastructure being developed all the time, has a never ending job market. If you are up to the task and be competitive and potential enough, have a go at IT.

Develop your educational qualifications in IT. As there are many fields, such as Database, Web, Software, Systems, Graphics, Network, Hardware, etc… choose your field and learn with an aim. You’ll end up being a top ranker, such as Project Manager or an Architect, beginning from a bottom ranker such as an Associate Software Engineer or an Associate Quality Assurance Engineer, in the job hierarchy, if we consider Software industry. It is ideal always to be prepared for the requirements for the job, and work towards being educated and knowledgeable on those required criterions.

As there are many fields to traverse, there are many opportunities to be come by. No matter what you are capable of or preference. Whether you are capable of mathematics, science, arts, commerce, drama, etc… no matter there are ample opportunities for you to pursuit. Mathematics people may end up being Software Engineers, while science people may have to experience IT environment if you are selected for laboratory fields and Bio-Metric Analysis fields. If you are good in arts and designing, you may end up being a graphic and web designer, a movie editor, effect artist, game developer, etc… Commerce people may end up being Managers in IT, where industry demands the best and professionals. 

To be a successful IT person you should have specific qualities to be a demanding person. These are actually skills you must develop. You have to improve your communication skills, team work, dedication, competitiveness, critical thinking, analytical thinking, innovation and collaboration, leadership, self-management, motivation, attitude, learning to listen and more. You have to develop technical skills as well as soft skills. Find a place where you can develop your skills and to practice them, before you move in to the industry.

Bachelor of Computer Science, University of Ruhuna provides the platform required to fulfill the demand of the IT industry. As a Computer Science specific degree program, it also provides ample opportunities to improve your skills. As the latest degree program, launched in 2010, it has been well reputed all over Sri Lanka, and more importantly in IT industry. 

University of Ruhuna previously offered Computer Science as a subject for the Bachelor of Science, Physical Science degree program, since early 1990’s. With limited infrastructure and human resources, the Department of Computer Science, University of Ruhuna, offered Computer Science as a subject to Bachelor of Science degree and offered IT certificate courses for all other degree programs. The pinnacle of their achievement is to be able to offer a computer specific degree program, Bachelor of Computer Science, which they achieved in 2010.

The degree primarily focuses on nourishing Software Engineers to the industry. The degree also covers System Development, System Design, Programming in Java, Visual Studio(.NET patform), C, C++, Computer Architecture, Web Development using PHP, JavaScript, JQuery, Ajax, Web Designing in HTML/CSS, XML, Networking, Graphics and Image Processing using software ,OpenGL, Matlab Database in MySQL, MSSQL  and Data and Network Security. The degree focuses on producing a complete package of a Software Engineer who has knowledge on every aspects of IT.

Primarily being a Computer Science degree, Bachelor of Computer Science degree program covers some Mathematics courses offered by Department of Mathematics and Electronics courses offered by Department of Physics. Some of the other related degree programs in Sri Lanka only offers Computer Science, but Bachelor of Computer Science degree program, University of Ruhuna offers Mathematics courses and Physics courses which are related with Computer Science. Mathematics gives serious thinking ability which helps in programming and Electronics gives knowledge on micro-processors, robotics, etc… which the knowledge will be helpful in future for the IT careers.

The Department of Computer Science offers 3 years of General degree for all who are registered. The General degree includes 5 semesters of academics and 1 semester of industry based training. The academics include end semester examinations and series of ongoing mini projects and assignments and lectures and practical sessions. Currently there are 12 to 15 hours of practical sessions for a week. After the end of semester 5, students are moved to industry based training for 6 months, which is compulsory. After successfully completing 3 years of General degree a limited number of students are selected for the Special degree program of 1 year. The Special degree includes a research of a preferred subject area.

The degree program was inaugurated during the administration period of Mr. Aruna Lorensuhewa, Senior Lecturer, the former Head of the Department of Computer Science, a Mahindian himself, who is working hard to improve the quality and facility. Present Head of the Computer Science Department is Dr. Deepani Guruge, Senior Lecturer. Under the guidance of the Head of the Department, a number of well-respected panel of lectures are conducting course units. The lectures are conducted in friendly manner and lecturers give their maximum. They spend much time as possible with students. Some course units are conducted by visiting lecturers, who are expertized in their respective fields. Some of them are coming from leading IT companies of the world like IFS.
The Department of Computer Science has links with leading IT companies not only in Sri Lanka, but world. They offer industrial visits for those companies and provide students the experience of the working environment of IT companies. So far the students have visited Virtusa, IFS, which are leading IT professional companies. Students have visited workshops conducted by Virtusa and Motorolla. Students have participated in Gaming Competitions conducted by Virtusa. By the time of studying students have got experience on industrial involvement as well.   

Now Bachelor of Computer Science degree program is conducted under extended facilities. When the degree program was inaugurated in 2010, the Department of Computer Science had only two laboratories, with limited functionality. In 2011, a new building premise was opened for the Department Computer Science itself, with two high facility computer laboratories with video conferencing facilities, one being a Multimedia laboratory, and a lecture hall and an E-learning Centre. The computer laboratories are equipped with about 120 high performance computers.  There is also a computer pool for referencing work, with extended functionality. 

So aim high on your AL s. Study hard to get a higher Z- Score and a district rank. If you are willing to start up a career in IT, take the challenge; get selected for Bachelor of Computer Science, University of Ruhuna. Wish you all the very best with your studies.

Bachelor of Computer Science Students’ Network invites you to join with us. You can find us on web, http://www.bcsuor.com/, and keep contact with us. You can see what we do and what we are up to. Also you can read our blogs on http://bcsuor.blogspot.com/ Also you can find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BCS.STUDENTS.NETWORK) and Google+ (https://plus.google.com/109012270246530556292).

Students’ Network
Bachelor of Computer Science

University Of Ruhuna

Monday, November 26, 2012

Our First Industrial Visit


 We, the first batch of Bachelor of Computer Science degree program at University of Ruhuna took part in the industry visit to IFS, one of the leading software development companies in the world on 21/10/2011 as a result of commitment of the Department of Computer Science.That was a remarkable day, not only for us but also for the Department of Computer Science and as well as for the IFS.

On that day, we were provided with immense of knowledge in different areas in  technical and software development and also with general knowledge about the Information Technology field .They presented their lectures and presentations in well planned and friendly manner  which encouraging us to clear our doubts by asking questions. It was a great experience for us to build up ourselves as software engineers or as any IT related employee in the Industry.
   



They, the members of the IFS treated us in a pleasant manner which motivated us to become valuable future employees in the industry. Cloud computing, ERP systems, visit to the server room and the final discussion they did with us are some interesting events of our visit.
That was a wonderful day for all of us as BCS undergraduates at University of Ruhuna, the first batch to have an industry visit to IFS. We learnt lot of things from them about the Industry and the information that we got helped us a lot in our studies.

 

We like to thank the IFS, who gave us the opportunity to have an industry visit to their company in Wellawatta and also to the Department of Computer Science who arranged this for us to gain first-hand experience in the industry. We are waiting to have many more in the future.

 
 

Friday, October 26, 2012

Mini Project - BCS Batch 1

Designing and implementation the projects collaboration with other groups too
After completing only a half of their degree program BCS students from the first batch exhibited their knowledge gain within about one and half years through this project. The project is done as a group project with three members in each group. Several topics are distributed, one for each group to implement a solution using the latest technologies including JAVA.




Ready to exhibit their own implementations to the visitors
Mini Project I - Groups

Group A - Library Management System
Group B - Examination Results Management System
Group C - Student Information System
Group D - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Group E - Simple Banking System
Group F - Electronic voting System
Group G - ATM System
Group H - Hospital Management System
Group I - Human Resources Management System
Group J - Flight reservation control system

The Project is done under the supervision of Ms. Samantha Kumarapathirana and all the other staff members of Department of Computer Science.
After the presentations the project coordinated Lecturers with the BCS Batch 1 students

After the completing the implementation a final exhibit session was held at Department of Computer Science premises in University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka.
Experimenting their own colleagues software solutions
 About three, four months students spent implementing the project with their various innovation ideas. Most of the groups used the latest programming language JAVA for their implementation and MySQL database server. For reporting purposes Jasper Reporting libraries are used within the JAVA application.
Some of the projects developed as distributed systems for client server architecture via tcp/ip network protocol.
Presenting their solutions to the staff
 Three members developed their separate components separately and finally total project was integrated. After the final testing phase the project was presented for the staff members and other students.

BCS Batch 1 - Mini project is successfully finished after the presentations at their premises.
After the final presentation groups are celebrating their success

For more information about BCS Students visit our website - http://www.bcsruh.com


Thursday, October 4, 2012

About BCS@UOR

In 2010, BCS Students’ Network was established consisting of Bachelor of Computer Science students at University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.

Bachelor of Computer Science was established in 2010 as the latest degree program at University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. The degree is offered to Advanced Level Mathematics stream passed out students who are specifically selected based upon a cut-off Z-score point.

The Bachelor of Computer Science degree program expects to admit and facilitate a total of 5o students a year. [Currently there are 69 students of two consecutive batches, 31 in 2010 and 38 in 2011].The number of students facilitated will be increased in the coming years.

The Bachelor of Computer Science students are involved in short- term ongoing projects in between academic sessions and an Industry based final year group project. Finally the students have to go through an Industrial Training which will be ideal for their careers.

What Bachelor of Computer Science degree program expects at the end is to prepare students for careers in Computer Science as Software Engineers, System Architecturers and various other fields to follow.

BCS Students’ Network, based on Bachelor of Computer Science degree program carries their mission to plant dreams and ideas for successful business minds.