Liberia: BlueCrest University to Offer Master’s Degree in IT

(L-r) Prof. Edward L. Wonkeryor, PhD, Director General of the National Commission on Higher Education along with Dr. Umesh Neelakantan, President of Blue Crest University

It’s been a long time since BlueCrest University Liberia ventured into its quest to offer graduate degrees at the University.

Two weeks after its 6th graduation convocation, the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) has provisionally accredited BlueCrest to offer and award a master’s degree in Information Technology for an initial two-year period.

“The Board of Commissioners of the NCHE authorizes the University to commence operation in providing IT degree at the master’s level for an initial two-year period,” the NCHE said in its communication to BlueCrest. “During the initial two years of operations, the NCHE will routinely monitor and evaluate the performances and deliveries of the university’s approved programs.”

“Next, BUC will reapply for the status of accreditation, and the approved program and activities will be thoroughly reassessed to determine the fitness for full accreditation status.”

Additionally, the NCHE also stressed the need for the university to recruit additional faculty with master’s and PhD degrees to “raise the instructional capacity of the institution, and also  set up a library with adequate and current materials to enhance teaching, learning and research, which are relevant to the program offered, for quality educational provision.”

Since 2014, BlueCrest University, one of Liberia's top IT universities, has instilled in students a “mindset of progress” through various IT portfolios and has advanced to a status where it offers learning portfolios in advanced software, cloud computing, and cyber security, programming, established and advanced networking platforms, Health Analytics, Data Science, Machine Learning and Deep learning technologies, Big data analytics, and many more. 

The NCHE fined the university US$10,000 in 2021 for starting the master's program without adhering to the requirements and suggestions put forth by the NCHE for its program accreditation at the graduate level.      

Meanwhile, Dr. Umesh Neelakantan, president of BlueCrest University, described the most recent achievement as a significant milestone for the school — and long-awaited. According to Neelakantan, the master's program at the university will start in January 2023.

The university now offers the chance for graduates who received their bachelor's degrees from the institution to return and pursue their master's degrees. Neelakantan added that BlueCrest is here to stay in Liberia and will do everything possible to make Liberia a learning hub in Africa.

“We have visualized a full fledged university campus here, so we are not going to be limited with IT as a course offered. BlueCrest’s primary goal is to ensure that Liberia develops into an education hub in Africa because we want this nation to grow.”

“We are not actually in competition with anyone. We are here to contribute because once you contribute, society will grow and that’s why our objectives are to educate, empower and enlighten,”  Neelakantan said.