NCC: Localising global skills

Michael Haigh, director, NCC speaks at the 'Qualifications@UK Fair' held at the British Council

NCC (National Computing Centre) Education is the world's leading independent IT education exporting, testing and certification body. It has continually brought about new grounds to the IT education in its 35-year history. It has offered a wide range of globally-recognised IT education and training programmes.

Bangladeshsi students can now obtain global skills locally, in an affordable price. The local institutions offering these courses are available in Dhaka, Chittagong and Rajshahi.

The director of NCC, Michael Haigh, was in Bangladesh in December to explore prospects of looking into the institutes and visiting the qualifications fair in the British Council.

A conversation with him in the British Council premises enabled the writer to have a deeper knowledge of the facilities provided by NCC.

On asking Michael Hagh about the professional development foundation, the reply was quite detailed, as he is the person who developed this curriculum. The unique IT professional foundation includes five courses. The two of the most interesting courses are the IT professional development for teachers and tech master.

The 'IT professional development for teachers' has been designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of existing teachers by developing an understanding of the use of IT in the school environment. Now we can have all those long tiring history and geography classes in a different and interesting way and, of course, an IT way.

The IT professional development tech master consists of a port folio of standalone IT courses which are delivered and tested online. The courses are suitable for those, wishing to embark on a career in IT and IT professional wishing to upgrade their skills with the latest cutting edge technologies. This would definitely help students to brush off with their IT skills and of course obtain popular programming courses such as Java, Linux and XML.

The other courses are International foundation course for students who want to access higher degree, English language framework and International certificate in computer studies which provides a practical approach to basic IT principles and competence.

NCC provides diploma, advanced diploma, BSc Honours degrees in Computing and Information Systems, post graduate diploma in Strategic IT, MSc in Strategic Business IT and many more which are currently available in Bangladesh. The MSc in Strategic Business IT provides access to senior business roles. The post graduate diploma and follow-up on the Masters degree teaches the skills that are needed to become a senior IT business manager. So, all of these qualifications show employers that students are committed to a career in business IT and have the skills and knowledge required in achieving greater goals.

Michal Hagh also spoke about the newly introduced course in Bangladesh, titled 'International Diploma in E-Commerce' (IDEC). According to him E-Commerce is rapidly emerging as a major business requirement in the 21st Century. It is true that employers today are looking to recruit new employees who can exploit this arena of business. This innovative course has been developed to deliver graduates with the E-Commerce skills that are currently in demand. The course includes basic technology skills, web skills, E-Commerce skills and practical implementation.

He also shed light on the unique standard of qualification that is assured for the students acquiring the course locally. The very best of the teachers and staff faculty are recruited and various facilities are provided for the students locally. Furthermore the British Council conducts all of the examinations. The highest level of security and quality of service is ensured for all of these exams. The few institutions providing NCC courses are BIT, Daffodil Institute of IT, IBCS Primax Software, Soft-Ed, Neural etc.

On asking him about any distinction present by standard and degree held by students studying here and abroad the answer was positive. It is truly wonderful to know that now our students who don't have the ability to go abroad and study can actually gain the University degrees of NCC right here. NCC is connected to 60 Universities and Bangladeshi students can hold a degree of these Universities.

I was curious about how exactly NCC is able to look into each of the 45 countries they are operating in. It sounds like an impossible task to be able to give attention to each country. Well, once again Michal Hagh diminished this curiosity. They have someone to look into the operation systems in the institutions in each of these countries.

I also asked him about the facilities and scholarships provided by NCC. In response to my question he said that the candidates who are given scholarships are expected to pass the criteria of their assessment which includes the qualification, curricular activities etc. Every year a handful of students are given this unique scholarship. The competition is really difficult as it is in the International level. Three students from Bangladesh were given this prestigious scholarship.

It was nice to talk to Michael Hagh who along with his co-workers is doing a fantastic job. Their contribution to the country is worth appreciating. Today, we can look forward to more of the upcoming unique courses and we hope that with the increasing number of IT students, the IT world of our country will become even better and we will be able to build a beautiful future for our nation.

Tahmina Shafique works for the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD).