LAHORE, Aug 6: The Punjab University College of Information Technology has finalized the plan to introduce five new and two updated degree programmes in the forthcoming semester to meet the future IT needs.

The new courses are: Master of Information Technology (MIT), Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT), Master of E-Commerce (MEC), PhD in computer science and postgraduate diploma leading to MSc in computer science. The revised courses to be taught in the next academic semester are BSc and MSc in computer science.

The college has invited admissions for all the seven courses and fixed Aug 9 as the last date for submission of admission forms, according to PUCIT Principal Dr M Anwarur Rahman Pasha.

Dr Pasha told newsmen on Wednesday that the two new IT programmes — two-year MIT and four-year BIT (honours) — had been developed to produce capable IT professionals. The PUCIT had also conducted a survey and accordingly designed these courses for the first time in Pakistan, he added.

He hoped that the graduates (in these courses) would have great employment opportunities in Small and Medium Enterprises, e-government and other areas by 2005.

He said the intermediate and graduate students were eligible for BIT and MIT programmes, respectively.

Dr Pasha said the MCE curriculum had been devised according to the latest research findings in the field of e-commerce. “The MCE will be a trend-setting programme for all the IT institutions willing to start e-commerce in the country.”

He said the SMEs’ survival would rest only in adopting IT and e-commerce technologies in their business strategies. “The successful graduates will have greater career prospects and employment opportunities in SMEs.”

In order to meet the international standards of computer science education, Dr Pasha said, the PUCIT had decided to start PhD in computer science and postgraduate diploma, which would lead to MSc. He said the college had also revised courses for the BSc and MSc in computer science.

He said these programmes were suitable for those candidates, who had solid foundations in mathematics and an aptitude for problem-solving, logical thinking and conducting serious research.

He said it was the high time for the government and the IT institutions to know what type of IT professionals were needed in the market. He suggested that the IT institutions should update the existing curricula and academic programmes for ensuring quality training they offered to the pupils.

Dr Pasha said some educational institutions were spoiling the future of the youth as well as the nation by offering a hotch-potch combination of subjects. Such institutions were ignoring the value of assessing the students’ aptitude and academic record.