Southeastern, BRCC sign 2+2 agreement on computer science programs
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
by: Rene Abadie
SLU, BRCC SIGN AGREEMENT – Southeastern Louisiana University President John L. Crain and BRCC Chancellor Dr. Andrea Lewis Miller sign a “2+2” agreement between the institutions that facilitates seamless transfer of BRCC computer science students into Southeastern’s four-year programs.
HAMMOND - Southeastern Louisiana University and Baton Rouge Community College have signed
a“2+2” articulation agreement designed to facilitate the transfer of BRCC computer
science students into Southeastern’s undergraduate programs.
Officials at both institutions said the agreement provides a seamless transition
for students graduating with computer science associate’s degrees from BRCC who intend
to pursue bachelor’s degrees at Southeastern in computer science and information technology
programs.
A 2+2 program is a cooperative endeavor between a two-year community college program
that offers associate degrees and a four-year institution that provides students with
an easy transition through the sharing of application and admissions information,
transcripts and other records.
The agreement will facilitate transfer to Southeastern’s bachelor degree programs
in computer science and information technology upon the student’s completion of the
AS degree program in computer science at BRCC.
“This agreement represents another sign of cooperation between Louisiana institutions
intended to advance the success of higher education students at both the community
college and university levels,” said Southeastern President John L. Crain. “It also
addresses important workforce development and technology issues for the state.”
“This is an exciting journey for both institutions. A partnership with Southeastern
will open up more avenues for BRCC students to achieve their dreams of furthering
their education. It also provides opportunities for students who may not have otherwise
considered completing a bachelor’s degree,” said BRCC Chancellor Andrea Lewis Miller.
Also signing the agreement on behalf of Southeastern were Provost and Vice President
for Academic Affairs Tammy Bourg and Dean of the College of Science and Technology
Dan McCarthy; signing for BRCC were BRCC Chancellor Andrea Lewis Miller and Dean of
the STEM Division JoDale Ales. Also participating in the signing event were Sebastian
van Delden, head of the Department of Computer Science and Industrial Technology at
Southeastern, and Karim Elkholy, interim chair of the Department of Engineering and
Computer Science at BRCC.
Under the agreement, students who complete two years at BRCC and earn an associate’s
degree in computer science can easily transition into Southeastern computer science
bachelor’s degree programs, which include pre-MBA and scientific concentrations, or
a bachelor’s degree in information technology.
van Delden said students at BRCC will take 60 credit hours, which includes
most of their general education coursework, including math, English, science, social
studies, humanities and basic computer science. Their remaining 60 hours at Southeastern
will focus primarily on computer science coursework, addressing algorithm design and
analysis, programming languages, operating systems, software engineering and other
advanced computing topics.
“This partnership gives students in the region an additional educational pathway
to pursuing a high tech career in computing,” he said. “With the high demand for application
developers and software engineers in south Louisiana now, we are very excited to see
this partnership formalized.”
