OpenArc, the only industrial campus offering BIT Degree with Software Development Practice and job assurance: “Water, Water everywhere, not a Drop to Drink”. Is this true with IT human resource pool of our country as well? – a question to be answered by every employer in the IT industry. When we advertise for IT graduates [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Launching of OpenArc ‘Industrial BIT’, ‘IDSD 2012’

(with 25 BIT Degree Scholarships), and free IT Workshop (one week) for School Leavers
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OpenArc, the only industrial campus offering BIT Degree with Software Development Practice and job assurance:
“Water, Water everywhere, not a Drop to Drink”. Is this true with IT human resource pool of our country as well? – a question to be answered by every employer in the IT industry.

When we advertise for IT graduates for our software development company, OpenArc Systems Management (Pvt) Ltd, we receive hundreds of applications. However, even for us to select one person, it is so difficult due to their poor knowledge, zero industrial exposure and negative attitudes. This is what we experience as the industry people in IT and there is a wide gap between what the industry needs and what is given to students by the academic programmes; what we need is the creative practice more than theory.

On the other hand, real talented students in the school system still believe in conventional careers such as Medicine and Engineering and do not seek to enter in to IT profession as the first preference. The O/L & A/L IT subjects curriculum also doesn’t motivate students to do IT. Mostly the students who enter in to IT are also not motivated by their talents but lucrative benefits offered to IT people in the industry. Eventually the industry ends up paying very high price for getting IT people who are still not capable of doing the jobs.

Every year more than 250,000 students sit for GCE A-levels out of which around 100,000 qualify to enter in to university. However, government universities can accommodate only about 20,000. The balance, nearly 80,000, does not find many guided opportunities to build up professional careers apart from accountancy and few others. We, at OpenArc strongly believe that there should be a programme to select the best students out of this lot after screening them for born IT talents. Such programmes need to be started at the grass root level or at least at O/L within the school system.

OpenArc Systems Management (Pvt) Ltd (OSM) along with its sister company OpenArc School of Business and Technology Ltd (OSBT), over their 21 years of history in serving the IT industry, have been offering free education to many students and full time 4 year scholarships since the year 2007. We offered not only four years of free education for the completion of our own Industrial Diploma in Software Development (1 year) and the BIT degree of University of Colombo (3 years) but also free software development training and job opportunities at OpenArc while studying for BIT.

The Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka, the apex body for ICT in the country has estimated increasing demand for ICT professionals and middle level technicians. According to findings, both public and private sector universities and educational institutes are not catering to even 50% of this increasing demand. On the other hand these ICT professionals and middle level technicians have lot of global job opportunities and find greener pastures abroad. This scenario in the ICT industry has created unfair salary structures in the ICT industry. Some of them are paid as much as five times the equivalent salaries of engineers or doctors; not that all IT employees will get those lucrative salaries but really talented ones.

With twenty one years of experience in large scale software development and implementation projects in the Banking and Finance Industry and in educating school leavers on industry oriented IT study programmes, OpenArc has designed and subsequently improved year by year, a comprehensive study programme coupled with IT practices to bridge this gap. In the year 2007, we designed a four year programme which helped a school leaver with a minimum of three passes in GCE (A/L) to be developed as an ‘Industry-fit graduate’.Under this programme, in the first year, the school leaver follows a comprehensive, industry-oriented, full time Diploma programme, called ‘Industrial Diploma in Software Development’ (IDSD) and then 3 year part-time study programme of BIT, University of Colombo. Throughout the programme, they have to practice various ICT theories that they learn, by doing industry oriented projects. Teaching at OpenArc School is done by qualified teachers who are involved in our OpenArc software development company.

It is appropriate to mention that OpenArc is a ‘CMMI level 3’ assessed software company in Sri Lanka: CMMI is the standard set by Carnegie Mellon University and Software Engineering Institute, USA for software quality assessments of IT companies. Engaging Practitioners who are the best Teachers, we provide knowledge and practices that are exactly required for practical software development. Hence, these Diploma holders can develop software from day one and easily fill the middle level technicians’ jobs in the ICT industry.

We are not just an educational institute providing IT courses. We are not only empowering them with technical knowledge and practice, but also improve their soft skills and help them to build positive attitudes as well. They are mentored and guided to develop a career in ICT, by following the IT degree (external) of University of Colombo, either on part-time or full-time basis while gaining ethical values and other skills required by the employers.

Since the year 2007, OpenArc has offered ninety two (92) full time degree scholarships (worth more than Rs. 50 million) to deserving school leavers to follow the Diploma and then the BIT degree programme. After completing the Diploma, the scholars are absorbed as trainees to OpenArc software Development Company. They study during one day of the week-end and practice during the week-days and receive a training allowance too. From the second year, they are absorbed to the software company as “Software Developers” and paid an industry average salary. They complete the degree while receiving the all important software development experiences. Hence, they become very capable on completion of the degree compared to a pure academic graduate, who pass out after completion of an academic course. We are proud to say that, today, some of these IDSD diploma holders and graduates are the live wires of most important projects undertaken by our software company, such as computerization of 310 branches of Bank of Ceylon with “OpenArc SkyLease” software system which we very successfully rolled out recently.

Since our school and the software development company are housed together, we are equipped better, to provide industrial training to our students within a very synergic atmosphere.

From this academic year starting in October 2012, OpenArc School has introduced another new full time degree programme named “Industrial BIT”. We have added many industrial components to the BIT external degree programme of the University of Colombo and offered triple benefits to the student; i.e. ensuring a very high pass rate, offering them “OpenArc certificate of industrial training” to certify the training received by them and a job guarantee at the end of the degree programme. This is a unique OpenArc offer which cannot be matched by any other institutions just offering “IT Courses”

Both these programmes are very cost effective even if a student does not receive a scholarship. OpenArc, with its twenty one years of experience in computerizing all Merchant Banks of Sri Lanka and having the market leadership for financial software, would like to guide the parents and students of the country on right ICT education and practices. We sincerely request parents not to spend a lot of money unnecessarily, on ICT degree programmes offered by many local and foreign institutions. Both the above programmes are priced very much lower than the equivalent programmes, enabling parents to get maximum value for their money.

This year we have introduced another unique method to identify the best, motivated students with born IT talents by involving school leavers (A/L or O/L) in a week-long free “IT workshop”. The very first workshop will be commenced on 17th September 2012 and the second is scheduled for 8th October 2012. During the workshop we would honestly advise and guide the truly talented students to start their IT careers and the best 25 students will be offered 100% free education under our annual scholarship programme known as ‘Navodaya’

Further, on 1st of October, at the Ananda College IT day, we will be launching a common website in order to support students of school IT societies through a free IT forum to be managed by OpenArc. All school children are welcome to participate and get started with their IT careers under professional guidance of OpenArc. This is what we carry in our motto; “To do IT right, come to OpenArc”

Daya Hettiarachchi
BSc. (Eng), C Eng, MIE (SL),
MSc. (Computer Science), MBCS, FCMA, CGMA.
Chairman, OpenArc




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