FDRE Ministry of Education (MOE)

Identified Competency Focus Areas and Core Courses for

National Exit Examination

Program: Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

Prepared by:
SN Name E-mail University
1. Mr. Amin Tuni (Asst. Professor) [email protected] Arba Minch University
2. Mr. Zerihun Olana (MSc.) [email protected] Jimma University

Validated By:
SN Name E-mail University
1. Gezhaegn Mulusew [email protected] Debre Tabor University
2. Dr. Tessfu Geteye [email protected] Dire Dawa University
3. Metages Molla (Assistant [email protected] Debre Markos University
Professor)
4. Girmachew Gulint [email protected] Debre Berhan University
5. Duressa Teshoma [email protected] Mdda Welabu Unversity

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

August 18, 2022
 Table of Contents
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1
2. Overview........................................................................................................................................ 1
2.1. Objectives of the Exit Examination ........................................................................................ 1
2.2. Significance of the Document .................................................................................................. 2
3. Expected Graduate Profile .......................................................................................................... 2
A. Cognitive skill ........................................................................................................................... 2
B. Technical skill ........................................................................................................................... 3
C. Attitude skill .............................................................................................................................. 3
4. Competencies and Learning Outcomes ...................................................................................... 4
4.1. Competencies ........................................................................................................................ 4
4.1.1. Knowledge ..................................................................................................................... 4
4.1.2. Skills ............................................................................................................................... 4
4.1.3. Attitudes ........................................................................................................................ 5
4.2. Learning Outcomes .............................................................................................................. 5
5. Courses to be included ................................................................................................................. 6
5.1 Course Themes and list of selected courses ........................................................................ 6
6. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Appendix: .............................................................................................................................................. 8

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Table 1:Course Theme and list ........................................................................................................... 7
Table 2: List of Selected Courses ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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 1. Introduction
2. Overview
Information Technology involves designing, implementing, and maintaining technology
solutions and support for users of technology. Information Technology curricula focus on
crafting hardware and software solutions as applied to networks, security, client-server and,
web applications, multimedia resources, communications systems, and the planning and
management of the technology lifecycle. According to this, some of the curricula were
developed for B.Sc. in Information Technology based on international experiences with some
professionals at different university levels. In Ethiopia, the first Information Technology
harmonized curriculum was started in 2004 EC and the new harmonized curriculum was
designed and implemented in 2012 EC.
In the education system, the main purpose is to produce highly competent students that
acquired knowledge, skills and attitude in their professions. The output of this competent
manpower will be useful for solving the community problems and involving the country's
economic development. One of the best tools to assure this is the exit exam for graduated
students, where its results provide trust in Higher Education Institutes’ outcomes. The FDRE
Ministry of Education (MoE) has proceeded according to some existing experiences in
Health and Law programs done so far. This was represented in a set of procedures, including
the stages of building question banks and linking them to learning outcomes in the curricula.
Based on this experience the MoE is designed this guideline to implement the national exit
exam to be held in 2015 EC for other programs. So, this guideline is designed to implement
the National Exit Examination of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. This
guideline focuses on the graduate profile, competencies, learning outcomes, and industry
demands of the professionals. Based on this, the courses are listed and categorized for the
exit exam.

2.1. Objectives of the Exit Examination

The national public administration exit exam shall have the following objectives
 To produce skilled and competent manpower to national and international market
 Assessing students’ educational achievement in major areas of public
administration and development management (PADM)

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  Ensuring whether the graduation profile of PADM curriculum have achieved at
least common standards of knowledge and practical skills
 Improving public trust and confidence in public administration activities of
professionals
 Facilitating the efforts of students to revise the core learning outcomes of the
courses covered by the exit examination
 Ensuring all graduates from HEIs satisfy the requirements of the labor market and
employability through the national wide implementation of competency-based
exit exam
 Creating competitive sprit among PADM departments in Ethiopia with the vies to
encouraging them to give due attention to the national standards

2.2. Significance of the Document

It is important to set competency areas of the subject matter (program) in order to measure
the how much graduates are acquired with skills, knowledge and attitudes. The following
shows us the significance or setting competencies and identifying core courses of the
program;

 To set competencies that helps to assess the basic skills, knowledge and attitude
of graduating students;
 To systematically identify the core courses which will be included the exit exam;

3. Expected Graduate Profile

The expected graduate profile for Bachelor of Science in Information Technology should
acquire the basic knowledge and skills in adapting and utilization of new technology with
minimum effort and resources. Accordingly, the B.Sc. in Information Technology graduates
will have the following graduate profiles:

A. Cognitive skill
• Analyse, identify and define the IT requirements that must be satisfied to address
problems or opportunities faced by organizations or individuals.

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 • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, principles and
theories relating to Information Technology.
• Identify and evaluate current and emerging technologies and assess their applicability
to address the user’s needs.
• analyse, adopt and demonstrate IT best practices, standards and their application.
• analyse the impact of technology on individuals, organizations and society, including
ethical, legal and policy issues;
• Identify and analyse user needs and take them into account in the selection, creation,
evaluation and administration of computer-based systems.
• Demonstrate an understanding of best practices and standards and their application;

B. Technical skill

• Use and apply current technical concepts and practice in the core area of Information
Technology.
• Design effective and usable IT-based solutions and integrate them into the user
environment.
• Assist in the creation of an effective project plan.
• Demonstrate independent critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Use current techniques, skills, and tools necessary to maintain and administer
computer-based systems.

C. Attitude skill

• Collaborate in teams to accomplish a common goal by integrating personal initiatives

• Communicate effectively and efficiently with clients, users and peers both verbally
and in writing, using appropriate terminology.
• Understand and explain the quantitative dimensions of a problem.
• Manage one’s own learning and development, including time management and
organizational skills
• Keep abreast of current developments in the discipline to continue one’s own
professional development.

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 • Recognize and be guided by the social, professional, and ethical issues involved in
the use of computer technology

4. Competencies and Learning Outcomes

This guideline incorporates the ideas of Competence Based Education (CBE) on the Bachelor
of Science in Information Technology national harmonized curriculum in 2013 EC. The core
competency areas of Information Technology graduated students are identified according to a
learning outcome and graduate profiles, which are measurable and achievable.

4.1. Competencies
The competencies of one program will be measured according to the three key areas
competencies which are Knowledge, Skill and attitudes. The competency areas of Bachelor
of Science in Information Technology are identified according to the program learning
outcomes and market demand of the as follows.

4.1.1. Knowledge
Students of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology students are expected to
understand, identify and define core concepts in Information Technology. The knowledge
competencies are the followings.

 Identify the basic Components of Computer Organization and Architecture

 Identify problems and apply different approaches and techniques in SDLC to support
software project management and the production of high-quality software
 Identify transmission media, protocols, and networking standards

4.1.2. Skills

Skills refer to capabilities and methods that develop actively through deliberate practice and
interactions with others. Skills in Information Technology require engagement in activities
such as programming, and the “know-how” dimension. The following skills are expected
from Information Technology graduated students.

 Design and develop software using different programming languages and develop
Rapid Application Development for immediate problem-solving

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  Design and develop databases used for transaction management, distributed database,
and database administration
 Design and develop static and dynamic websites by using Server/client-side scripts
for commercial and scientific programs.
 Design and configure Networking devices and security management

4.1.3. Attitudes
Attitudes encompass to carry out tasks to know when and how to engage in those tasks with
others. The attitudes are listed as follows.
 Identify threats, risks, and vulnerabilities in Information System
 Comprehend the communication, emotional skills, ethics, and behaviors

4.2. Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes of the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology are listed as
follows.

 Identifying failures of computer hardware and software and properly applying the
procedures of maintenance and repairing of computer hardware
 Develop the necessary skills in designing, coding, debugging and documenting large
programs using different programming languages
 In addition, they will understand and implement varieties of algorism analysis and
implementation techniques.
 The students will develop the skills in identifying and analysing and implementing
classes using programming languages and apply Rapid Application Development.
 Describe the information systems development life cycles (SDLC) to demonstrate the
object-oriented system analysis and design concepts, tools, techniques, to support
software project management and the production of high-quality software
 Understands the different database models, distributed database system and they will
also design and create databases, tables, views, triggers and indices and write SQL
queries and database programs.
 Develop the skills of static and dynamic websites, in creating Server/client-side
scripts for commercial and scientific programs and also, they will develop Mobile
Application and Web Server programming for different applications.

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  Understands data transmission and media, protocols, the concept of layering,
recognize the importance of networking standards
 They will have the knowledge and understanding of installation and configuration of
network operating system, they get familiar with the concepts of network
administration and network device installation
 The students will properly identify threats, Risks and vulnerabilities, data Security
Policies or Administration Security, information Systems Security concepts, and
designing secure systems.

5. Courses to be included
To select courses for this national exit exam the course of the program is categorized to
different course themes. We have categorized overall course of the program which are 34
core courses into six themes. Out of the 34 total core courses of the program, 15 courses are
selected and five themes out of seven themes are included in the exit exam. According to the
competency area and learning outcomes correlated with graduate profiles, the following
courses are selected for the national exit examination. The exit examination focuses on the
key knowledge and skill of undergraduate Information Technology graduates.

5.1 Course Themes and list of selected courses

The courses’ themes are done based on the relatedness and similarity of courses. Course of
the program is categorized in to seven including Elective theme. From these themes the
course themes and courses selected are mentioned in the Table 1. According to this, five
themes are selected for exit exam. The total themes of the program are categorized as
follows.

1. Computer System
2. System/Software Development
3. Information and Database management
4. Networking and Information Security
5. Mobile Application and Web Development
6. Miscellaneous
7. Elective

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 Table 1: Course Theme and list
SN Course Theme Course Title Course code Credit
hrs./ECTS
1. Computer System 1. Computer Maintenance and ITec3031 4/6
Technical Support
2. System/Software 1. Object Oriented Programming in ITec3051 3/5
Development Java
2. IT Project Management ITec3062 3/5
3. Advanced Programming ITec3056 3/5
4. Event-driven programming ITec3054 3/5
5. System Analysis and Design ITec3061 3/5
3. Database System and 1. Fundamentals of Database ITec2071 3/5
Information System
Management 2. Advanced Database System ITec3071 3/5
4. Mobile Application 1. Internet Programming-I ITec2092 3/5
and Web 2. Internet Programming-II ITec3093 3/5
Development 3. Mobile application Development ITec3058 3/5
5. Networking and 1. Data communications and ITec2102 3/5
Information Security Computer Networks
2. System & Network ITec4112 3/5
Administration
3. Network Device & ITec4111 3/5
Configuration
4. Information Assurance and ITec4133 2/3
Security
Total ECTS/ Cr. Hrs. 45/74

6. Conclusion
This guideline is designed to implement the National Exit Examination for B.Sc. in
Information Technology undergraduate programs throughout Ethiopian Higher Education
Institutes. To prepare this guideline the following criteria were considered into account.
 Expected graduate profiles,
 Competency and learning outcomes of the programs
 Correlation of graduate profiles and competency of the program
 Selection of core competency courses
The key competencies of the program are selected, and the courses which match the
competency areas are selected for the exit exam. The exam contents will focus on key
knowledge of the program from each course and the courses which match the exit exam
types. Accordingly, 15 courses are selected for the exit exam from a total of 56 courses in the

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program and they are grouped into different four thematic areas. The selected courses are
thematized to groups according to their similarities.

The exit exam focuses on core competency areas of the B.Sc. in Information Technology
Program. This guideline will be modified and change the categorized courses based on the
adaptability and customization techniques when the curriculum is revised.

Appendix: List of the program courses with their themes

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S/N Theme Name Course Course Title ECTS Cr. Hrs.
1. code
ITec2024 Computer Organization and Architecture 5 3
ITec2022 Operating Systems 5 3

Computer Systems ITec3031 Computer Maintenance and Technical Support 6 4

2. ITec2041 Fundamental Programming-II 5 3
ITec2052 Data structure and Algorithms 5 3
ITec3051 Object Oriented Programming in Java 5 3
ITec3054 Event-Driven Programming 5 3
ITec3056 Advanced programming 5 3
ITec3061 System Analysis and Design 5 3
System/ Software
Development ITec3062 Information Technology Project Management 5 3
3. ITec2071 Fundamentals of Database Systems 5 3
ITec3071 Advanced Database Systems 5 3
Database Systems and ITec3082 Information Storage and Retrieval 5 3
Information
Management ITec4081 GIS and Remote Sensing 5 3
4. ITec2102 Data Communication and Computer Networks 5 3
ITec3102 Introduction to Distributed Systems 5 3
ITec4102 Wireless Networking and Telecom Technologies 5 3
ITec4114 Network Design 5 3
ITec4112 System and Network Administration 5 3
ITec4133 Network Device and Configuration 5 3
Network and
Information Security ITec4111 Information Assurance and Security 3 2
ITec2092 Internet Programming-I 5 3
Mobile Application and ITec3093 Internet Programming-II 5 3
5.
Web Development
ITec3058 Mobile Application Development 5 3
6. ITec4148 Integrative Programming and Technologies 5 3
ITec4144 Int. to Data mining and Warehousing 5 3
ITec4146 E-Commerce 5 3

Elective ITec4142 Computer Graphics 5 3

7. ITec4151 Internship 3 2
ITec4131 Seminar on Current Trends in Information Technology 3 1
ITec3121 Multimedia Systems 5 3
ITec4121 Artificial Intelligence 5 3
ITec4134 Social and Professional Ethics in IT 3 2
ITec4155 Basic Research Method in IT 3 2
ITec4153 Final year Project I 5 3

Miscellaneous ITec4154 Final year Project II 5 3

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