Introduction
The branches and applications of Computer Science are increasing day-by-day. Along with e-enabled services, applications in medical sciences, biological sciences, the arts, film industry etc are forever increasing worldwide. To support such diversity, the range of skills required and hence jobs in the computing industry are also increasing. Local market experience bears witness that fresh graduates lack knowledge of how Computer Science fits into the business world. These graduates have a lot of skills, however, they are at a loss as to how computers can be used as tools to increase business efficiency. Local software development projects often fail. For such projects, it has been found that the brunt of project time is spent during final implementation. Sometimes it is found that client requirements have not been properly understood making a lot of re-engineering necessary in the final stages. Not only does this lengthen the development cycle, projects often fail at this point. This generally points to lack of proper analysis and design of the project requirement. Documentation for software development projects is often poor. The root of this is found in the severe lack of communication skills in graduates. They shy away from having to write often they don't know where to start.
All these point to the need for a Masters level course that would address some of these issues.
Mission
To equip non-IT graduates, both with and without experience, the necessary knowledge and skills to design, develop and implement large software projects.
Aims and Objectives
The intended objective of the Master's degree is to provide graduate education for professionals in software development methodologies, techniques, qualities, and technologies valuable for various industry segments - education, government, marketing, business, manufacturing as well as specialized fields such as medicine and law. Knowledge gained through this program should enable professionals to use information technology to solve problems of organizations and the society as a whole.
Course Structure
A student must earn total 52 credit hours of courses and 8 credits hours of internship to complete the degree.
The structure is divided into four segments: core or foundation, electives, specialization track and internship.
Core Segment mainly concentrates on courses about software development life cycle (SDLC) and an internship project using SDLC methodologies. In addition, database systems, networking, Object Oriented analysis and design are included. Theory classes on various IT issues and policies IT and social development, copyright and privacy policy, ethics, quality assurance are also included. The last class of the core will be a capstone project class, which will be mainly concentrate on developing a real world project development.
Electives: Students will take two courses from a group of courses as electives
Specialization track: Students pursuing MCA will choose a concentration of courses to fulfill their degree requirement. Choosing a set of three related courses will provide the student with an in-depth knowledge of a specific area.
Internship: To complete the requirements for the Master of Science in Computer Applications, students must successfully complete an internship (8 credit hours).
Student Body
The following category of students would be the target of the MCA course.
1. Non-IT Graduates
2. Non-IT graduates working in the IT industry
3. Business executives and professionals
4. PGDIT graduates.
Admission Requirements
Students having a minimum of 2nd class /2.5 CGPA (out of 4) in any one of the following degree can apply:
4-year bachelor's degree from recognized university
3-year Honors degree and 1-year Master's degree
Graduate students having completed PGDIT course