CIT/BAT Program

WVU-P’s Board of Governors today (June 10th, 2009) approved a service agreement with WVU and also a long term trademark license agreement with WVU to retain it’s name long term.

WVU-Parkersburg’s Workforce and Community Education division now has both the Pearson/VUE testing and Prometric testing center online.  This means you can now take all of your certifications on campus!  Which one should you take first?  If you have finished CIT 106 (INTRO) or CIT 206 (ICND), I would recommend you take the Cisco CCNA exams.  According to the May Global Academy Update, we received the following notice:

“The INTRO (640-821), ICND (640-811), and CCNA (640-801) certification exams (all language versions) will be available to Networking Academy students until July 31, 2009. After July 31, 2009 vouchers for these exams will no longer be accepted.”

If you take the exam after July 31st, you will need to take the newest version of the exam, which is more difficult and covers topics that may not have been taught in your original class unless you took the CCNA Version 4 (Exploration) curriclum.

Have you considered the IBM Mainframe classes offered by WVU-Parkersburg?  You should.  A lot of people think Mainframe computers are a dying business or not an area of IT where you can get a good job, but did you know that every student who has graduated from our mainframe B.A.T. Degree has been placed in a career position as a mainframe engineer. The average age of current mainframe engineers is over 55, meaning many of them are getting ready to retire. Don’t think there is a high demand for mainframe computer engineers? Consider this: Last year one of our students who hadn’t even graduated was able to get a consulting position working one day a week for $200/hour working as a mainframe engineer. While we can’t guarantee that for everyone, it certainly makes the mainframe program worth taking a look at! This fall, you could see what it’s all about by registering for the mainframe basics class (CRN 1779). If nothing else, it is a great upper-level elective, and you might just discover a future you never considered before!

The Parkersburg News and Sentinel is running an article on the front page this morning about the agreements being sought between WVU and WVU-P. At this time, no satisfactory agreement has yet been reached. Read the full article on the News and Sentinel website.