Post Baccalaureate Diploma In Enterprise IT Management (Co-op Optional)

at St. Francis Xavier University Canada

The impact of enterprise systems on the competitiveness of today’s technology intensive organizations is significant. Enterprise systems are large-scale software packages that support the key business processes, information flows, and data reporting of an entire organization. In addition to meeting the most basic information needs of organizations, enterprise systems also help to improve competitiveness through the inclusion of business intelligence, knowledge management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and product life cycle management capabilities. Among other things, students in the Enterprise Systems stream will receive hands-on training on leading technologies, design, develop, and implement Enterprise Systems solutions, and learn how to manage technology projects.

Courses cover a wide range of topics related to technology and its management in organizations, including:

    • IT and enterprise systems
    • Business intelligence and analytics
    • Systems analysis and design
    • Designing and implementing enterprise systems solutions
    • Designing and implementing business intelligence and analytics solutions
    • Project management
    • IT Management
    • Enterprise systems strategy

If you are interested in the latest technologies, want to design, implement, and managing technology solutions for business, and help organizations apply the latest technologies to improve their competitiveness, then the Enterprise Systems stream may be for you. There is significant demand and numerous regional, national, and global opportunities available for graduates of the Enterprise Systems stream. Graduates may work as IT/Enterprise Systems Consultants, Enterprise Systems Solution Architects, IT Project Managers, and IT Managers for leading national or global companies. Others may pursue graduate studies in Business, Information Technology, or Enterprise Systems.   

As a StFX Anthropology student, you will look at the social world and ask fundamental questions about the development and behaviour of human societies. Exceptional faculty members guide you to think critically about the development and behavior of human society, explore the way human cultures differ, and explain what it is that makes humans different from other animals.

WHY STUDY ANTHROPOLOGY AT STFX?
Here, you’ll engage with big issues in small classes taught by a team of academics committed to providing a the very best education. You’ll join like-minded students engaging in projects that take on social justice issues at StFX, in the community and beyond.

As the majority of research is field work, both local and international, learning often extends beyond classroom walls. StFX professors have active projects across the world and annually involve and welcome students in their research.

Students in the StFX English Department examine the human experience through a survey of literature that spans the ages. From the study of contemporary science fiction to the poetry of centuries past, you will develop well-rounded writing and analytical skills that have applications in countless career and post-graduate fields.

WHY STUDY ENGLISH AT STFX?
Professors get to know their students by name and offer the kind of mentoring and one-on-one assistance that will help you achieve your full potential. You will meet with professors to discuss assignments and exams, and are involved in literary activities that take place outside the classroom. From participation in conferences, to discussions with visiting writers and scholars, to literary publications and readings, faculty are actively involved in their students’ academic programs.

Women’s and Gender Studies at StFX is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program, which provides an academic and community context for scholarly inquiry focusing on gender. You will learn how to use gender as a category of analysis, including reflection on the manifestation of gender in your own life. Intersections of identities such as race, social class, gender, ability and sexuality are explored in the context of everyday life and in society. You will also explore the contributions, connections and insights of Women's and Gender Studies within the academy and beyond.

WHY STUDY WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES AT STFX?
A rich interdisciplinary academic environment supported by committed faculty is a program hallmark. Formal academic programs are integrated with community projects. More than a dozen faculty members are affiliated with the program from fields as diverse as sociology, religious studies and nursing.

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program regularly hosts symposia, lectures and workshops as well as several events in which notable feminist activists, scholars, and artists speak and present their work. A graduation prize is awarded annually to a Women’s and Gender Studies graduating student.

The MACS program is a course-based Masters (full-time) completed over a period of a 16 months or 2 years of full-time study. It is open to students with an undergraduate major in Computer Science, or the equivalent combination of courses. Students have flexibility to select from numerous elective courses to design a Master’s program that meets their professional interests and aspirations. Students will also have the option to complete an elective, project-based course in a workplace environment or a co-operative education option. The Department also offers a thesis- based, research-intensive Master’s in Computer Science. 

Why Computer Science at STFX?
StFX’s Computer Science program is recognized as the top ranked program in Atlantic Canada (Maclean’s Magazine October 2019). It has earned its ranking in part due to the department’s field-weighted citation impact index rank, a measure of research output, for which the group is ranked first in the country. In the Master of Applied Computer Science program, students take advanced courses that will equip them well for working in industry. As well as the course-based program, the department offers a thesis-based Master of Science in Computer Science and undergraduate programs, which contribute to a lively community of computer scientists working and studying together.

Experiential Learning
One of the cornerstones of this program is the opportunity provided to students to engage in experiential learning, which will help build confidence and gain experience in the field prior to entering the workforce. The program is structured so that real-world problems are embedded throughout the program (in the Computer Science Graduate Seminar course and throughout the elective courses). Additionally, students have the opportunity to complete CSCI 591–Project, providing real-life software development experience by applying classroom learning in a real work context. In CSCI 591, students work with an industry or academic partner and develop a computing a solution to a real-world problem. Students are responsible to manage the project from development to execution to presentation to the client and final review.

Co-op Option
Students in the MACS program can apply to complete Co-operative Education (Co-op). Co-op offers paid work experience for students interested in developing a career in various areas within computer science fields and also integrate work experience in their field of interest within their academic studies while earning 6 credits towards their MACS. Students complete professional development seminars and workshops offered through the Co-op department prior to work term placement. This will prepare students to be professional, committed for the challenges of work term placements, and ensure that good relations with employers are fostered, right from the start. Students can apply to Co-op during their first semester of the MACS program. Space is limited.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a burgeoning field undergoing rapid progress and development. Technological advances that rely on AI are numerous and include applications such as self-driving automobiles, medical diagnosis, computer-assisted translation tools, speech recognition, biometrics, entertainment, and a wide variety of classification and predictive technologies. AI is recognized as having immense social, technological, and ethical implications for society. The diploma will allow graduates to either begin or broaden their career in computing-related fields and provide them with a depth of knowledge in the highly sought-after field of AI. AI is an area that is in high demand, and graduates of this program will be prepared for entry into the workplace or into graduate programs.

Computer Science faculty at StFX are very active in research. Together, they provide an education in Computer Science that produces high-achievers who are well-suited for graduate studies or to develop a career in industry. StFX’s Computer Science program is the top ranked in Atlantic Canada in Maclean’s for the third year in a row. Computer Science research at StFX was tied for first place in Canada in field-specific research impact (Field-weighted citation impact, Maclean’s 2019). Students in the Artificial Intelligence Post-Baccalaureate Diploma will also join a vibrant department surrounded by like-minded undergraduate and graduate students.

The Program
The Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Artificial Intelligence is a two-year diploma program for students who already possess an undergraduate degree. The diploma is geared towards students whose undergraduate degree is not in Computer Science. The program is concentrated and rigorous, with at least half of the courses at the upper-year levels. Students will be introduced to a discipline that is new to them, build the basic knowledge quickly (within the first term), and then move to rigorous higher-level courses. Learning will be enriched by prior education and by the diverse backgrounds of their peers. As graduates of this program, they will bring this rich educational foundation to the workplace.

Post-Baccalaureate diplomas are attractive to students who want to do one or more of the following:

• Expand their knowledge into a discipline outside of their first degree.
• Change the direction of their first degree into new areas for career reasons.

Marketers understand that customers do not buy products; they buy solutions and benefits. Marketers help their organizations understand customer perceptions of value and how to create, communicate and deliver that value better than the competition. Marketers do this in ways that contribute to society in general, not just to the bottom line.

Students choosing to study marketing at StFX have the opportunity to take foundational marketing courses including Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Management, Professional Sales and Marketing Research. They can also explore specific areas of marketing such as digital marketing and customer relationship management.  Complete course requirements are found here. Our courses aim to develop students’ knowledge and skills so they are ready for an exciting but complex world. Courses within the marketing stream engage students using a variety of pedagogical approaches including case analysis, simulations, presentations, research papers, and client-centred projects.

The marketing program also provides students with opportunities to participate in consulting projects and original research. Students pursuing an Advanced Major in Marketing work with a client organization to develop solutions to client-identified challenges and gain valuable skills and experience in the process.  Students interested in research can choose to pursue an Honours degree to work closely with a faculty supervisor on an individual research project in the field of marketing.

Students who study marketing are well positioned for careers in:

    • Entrepreneurship
    • Brand Management
    • Professional Sales
    • Market Research
    • Retail Management
    • Merchandising/Category Management
    • Advertising
    • Digital Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Not-for-Profit Marketing

The Concentration in Actuarial Science at StFX will put you well on your way to entering the Actuarial field. Actuaries must master financial, mathematical, and economic principles to provide organizations of all types with the confidence needed for future-planning. Actuaries use highly developed analytical skills to mitigate risk and identify opportunities. The insurance sector is the primary employer of actuaries, helping insurers manage premiums and payouts, but this program will also be of interest to students planning to work in areas such as investments and portfolio management, enterprise risk management, and senior management.

Program details

• If you are interested in completing the co-op option, you can apply to the program after your first year of university study.
• Co-op students complete 15 hours of professional development training that lays a foundation for co-op success
• Work terms take place in the fall (September to December), spring (January to April) or summer (May to August), can take place across Canada and last 13-17 weeks per semester.
• Students can gain 12-16 months of work experience, which can be completed in multiple stages or all at once.
• A great benefit of the Co-op program is that placements are paid work terms, allowing you to gain valuable work experience while earning money to help fund your studies.
• Finally, students complete our capstone course, COOP 405 (3 credits)

Sociologists explore the way human interaction shapes our culture, and employ the ideas of leading social theorists for comprehensive answers. As a StFX Sociology student, you will be introduced to innovative methods of looking at the social world, human behavior and societies.

WHY STUDY SOCIOLOGY AT STFX?
Sociology students are among the most active at StFX, a fact often attributed to the professors who give you the tools you need to ask tough questions, make informed social choices and become personally engaged in change.

You will explore different vantage points and gain access to in-house expertise in areas including social movements, the environment, the various forms of social inequality, and theories concerning racial equality, identity and the self, media and cultural studies, rural sociology, fisheries, criminology, disability studies, deviance, social difference, gender identity and more.

In Computer Science (CS), students are offered a well-rounded education in the scientific foundations of information and computation together with practical techniques for the implementation of these foundations, applicable to almost every facet of life, through an intensive, hands-on approach. 

There are many sub areas (e.g., artificial intelligence, databases, game development, cyber security, graphics, high performance computing, big data, networking, programming languages, robotics, etc.) within the broader discipline of CS, with new areas such as health informatics and the internet of things being created as the discipline evolves. 

WHY STUDY COMPUTER SCIENCE AT STFX?
Here, you learn directly from professors, not teaching assistants, who are accomplished scholars -- many that hold National Sciences and Engineering Research Council grants and are very active in research. Together, they provide an education that prepares students well for the opportunities and challenges of the information age whether they wish to go directly into a career, go on to further studies at the graduate level, or go into an education program.