Monday, April 7, 2003		Guest Speak

M.Sc (IT) scores over MCA
D.S. Cheema

INFORMATION Technology (IT) has made inroads into all aspects of life. No wonder, therefore, a lot of students are opting for IT-related courses. An IT training course, undertaken by the students, should provide the knowledge needed to understand major components and broad applications of the computer world.

Students must understand how the major components (OS, software, networks and databases) relate to the personal computer or workstation in front of them. Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) course was introduced in Panjab University in 1998 with the aim of providing much needed IT knowledge at graduate level. Since the students after completing BCA did not have any future prospects in industry, it was rightly decided by the university to introduce a post-graduate level course for such students. Hence a course initially named Master in Information Sciences (MIS) was planned to be introduced. MIS was later converted into M.Sc. (IT).

After graduation, a student wanting to get in the field of IT faces the dilemma of joining either MCA or M.Sc. (IT) course. Which one is better?

M.Sc. (IT) is far better a course than MCA. In fact, much better due to the inherent strong points which makes M.Sc. (IT) stand out amongst the courses in IT Industry.

The strongest point in favour of M.Sc. (IT) is that for the course the entry criteria is a BCA-degree armed candidate. That is, it only accepts those computer graduates who have a strong base of computers and hence the advance technologies, which are currently in the market, can be introduced straight away in the curriculum. Output depends on the input, after all. MCA students come from different backgrounds — arts, commerce etc and hence some basic training of computer is required. So the advance technologies can only be introduced after the fourth semester, which gives them less time for advanced subjects. Universities like Kurukshetra, PTU, IGNOU are conducting MCA course without the students having the background of either mathematics or science. An arts graduate can complete a three-year MCA course but can never develop skill sets that he can use with confidence in his professional work, either in the industry or teaching. The course content for M.Sc. (IT), affiliated to Panjab University, makes it a unique blend of hardcore programming and applications development. The subjects that are presently in demand (Java, Linux, E-com, VC++, Software Engineering) are included in the syllabus that gives the students a unique opportunity to learn the latest skills.

M.Sc. (IT) students are required to undertake many minor projects, seminars, presentation etc., along with major projects, and industrial training of six months. This gives the students a lot more opportunity to gain practical experience. If we compare the MCA curriculum for Kurukshetra University, PTU and IGNOU with M.Sc. (IT) syllabus of Panjab University, it can easily be seen that subjects like Event Driven Programming using Visual Basic, Advanced Java programming language, Electronic commerce, Linux administration are included in their syllabus. Can anyone imagine a MCA qualified fellow without the knowledge of these subjects? However, their syllabus includes mathematical foundation of computer science, computer programming and problem solving (using C), computer organisation and assembly language, personal computing operating system and software elective, data and file structure (using C), computer-based statistical methods, which are included in the curriculum of BCA in Panjab University. It is obvious that if a student with three years of undergraduate IT knowledge sequentially progresses into a higher course, his learning of complex and sophisticated IT-related skills will be far better than those who are straightway introduced to such skills.

The present yearly system of M.Sc. (IT) has certain inherent disadvantages. Though it provides students more time to have in-depth understanding of each and every subject yet it thwarts a chance of expertise. In the semester system, when the student becomes comfortable with a particular subject he has to leave it and switch over to other subjects in the next semester, even if he is interested in continuing to gain some expertise in the subject of his interest.