New KPU programs offer cloud computing security and app development
The Melville School of Business and Wilson School of Design worked with the provincial government to create the programs
Art by Christina Tran
Kwantlen Polytechnic University announced they will be offering two new programs which will focus on cloud computing and interactive apps.
The two programs are cloud architecture and security, and a front-end development for interactive applications. The Melville School of Business and the Wilson School of Design will be working together to roll out the development of these programs for the next school year.
The programs have been funded through the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education in addition to 3,000 new technology courses and programs throughout post-secondary institutions in the province.
“Our economy is changing, workplaces are transforming, and we have more job openings in growing and in-demand fields than we have the skilled workers ready to fill them,” said Selina Robinson, minister of post-secondary education and future skills, in a statement.
KPU is one of the post-secondary institutions open to adding these courses to benefit students in the workforce.
“There is a strong emphasis from the provincial government on applied concrete opportunities for people to get in-demand tech skills,” says David Burns, associate vice president, academic at KPU. “The provincial government wants to see that people can come out of these programs and contribute to these areas in B.C. as soon as possible,”
“There’s a huge amount of opportunity for tech jobs in the Lower Mainland. [Working] on front end development with both the school of design, school of business, [and] IT department was an obvious choice and they are both well placed to contribute to opportunities in these areas.”
Since the programs have not been developed yet, it is not known when exactly these courses will be offered to students and in what form of delivery.
“It’s important that our faculty take a look at how the learning needs to happen in the classroom before we say it’s going to be all this or all that … [We] try to find out what KPU students need and what works best for their education,” he says.
“It takes a while to develop new programming, particularly programming that has to go through some of the provincial approval processes.”
The cloud architecture and security program will be a citation, and the front-end development for interactive applications is proposed to be a two-year diploma.
“The citation is targeted for people who are already IT professionals. It’s going to have a different group of students who are already working professionals, [rather] than the diploma,” Burns says.
Students who want to have the diploma do not need as much experience and can go into the program out of high school.
“We are seeing a lot of growth at KPU in the last two years in technology. Last year, we put a huge amount of emphasis on expanding into visual effects for animation and design in video games, film, and T.V,” he says.
“The university is pushing to make sure our students are digitally literate and skilled when they leave KPU.”
