Greetings from the Chair

Good morning!

I am the chair of the Computer Science Department at Okanagan College .

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for visiting our department website. I'm sure you'll find something of interest here.

Let's be honest. Why would you want to study Computer Science? After all, everyone knows there are no jobs there. All the jobs disappeared in the dot-com crash, didn't they? People "know" all sorts of incorrect things and "there are no jobs in computing" is one of those incorrect things. Many, many statistics show that the number of jobs in computing is higher now than before the dot-com crash. The number of vacancies in computing will increase as the baby boomers retire. Take a look at this document , prepared in the USA but relevant to Canada as well. (It's a PDF file, so if you need the Acrobat reader, it's available here. ) There are many, many opportunities in computing. make sure you don't miss out! More details on the opportunities in computing are available from our home page .

If you are a potential student (or the parent of a potential student) in the department, you should know that we offer a wide variety of computer science courses. Some are part of our two-year Computer Information Systems diploma, some are part of our four-year Bachelor of Computer Information Systems degree.

Some courses (COSC 111, 121, 211, 221, 222, 231), which are also part of the CIS and BCIS programs, prepare you for a more-theoretical computer science degree, offered at some other university or university-college. See University Transfer Arts and Science . If you will be transferring to another institution, I encourage you to earn an Associate of Science at Okanagan College. It will make your transfer much smoother.

Some courses (COSC 110, 115, and 127) are offered to students studying in other disciplines: Civil Engineering Technology , Network and Telecommunications Engineering Technology , and Water Quality and Environmental Engineering Technology .

One course (COSC 122) is offered to anyone who wants to gain some knowledge of computing, necessary since computers will be used in most areas of study and work.

If you are interested in the courses and programs we offer, please Apply to Okanagan College

If you are a current student , thanks for joining us. We hope you are having a great time at Okanagan College and are learning a great deal from our team of experienced and qualified teachers. Lots of information about your courses and professors is available on the site.

Should you have questions about the department, please contact me at 250 762 5445 local 4297 or via email .

Alan Kennedy
Chair, Computer Science
Okanagan College