The University of the South Pacific (USP) is the only non-Australian university to achieve accreditation from the Australian Computer Society (ACS) for its Bachelor of Software Engineering and Bachelor of Net-centric Computing.
The two programmes received professional accreditation by ACS in December 2015. ACS is a professional association for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Australia and also a signatory to the Seoul Accord, which is a multi-lateral mutual-recognition agreement among agencies responsible for accreditation or recognition of tertiary-level computing and IT-related qualifications.
The programmes are offered by USP through its Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE).
Faculty Dean, Dr Anjeela Jokhan said that the accreditation signifies that the two USP qualifications (Bachelor of Software Engineering and Bachelor of Net-centric Computing) are now globally recognised for their quality.
“These two programmes are carefully designed to provide students to systematically develop their skills and knowledge, and at the same time provide them with the opportunity to work with industries to gain experience in solving real-life ICT problems,” she added.
She further mentioned that students who graduate from the accredited programmes will be eligible to become members of ACS, meaning that their qualifications will be recognised globally under the Seoul Accord.
The process for accreditation started with the initial stages of the Human Capacity Building project at the Japan-Pacific ICT Centre. One of the deliverables of the project was to develop high quality IT programmes. Two experts from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) helped the USP team with this as part of the work on the project.
Dr Jokhan explained that at the initial stage, the idea was to ensure that the quality of the programmes will be determined by some external benchmark. This led to discussions with ACS which had informed USP that it was possible to accredit a non-Australian programme. From there onwards, USP was successful in aligning the two programmes to ACS standards.
She said that the accreditation is a result of hard work and perseverance over the last five years.
Dr Jokhan highlighted that being listed with other top universities is a significant achievement for USP. She is confident that the University will continue to work hard to maintain the accreditation.
She said that the accreditation should encourage students intending to enrol in the two programmes this year.
