Diploma in Office Management & Secretarial Studies
Duration: 2 Years
The Diploma in Office Management and Secretarial Studies (DOMSS), is a two-year diploma programme that begins every academic year conducted in four semesters and a semester constitutes 17 Weeks with 15 Weeks for teaching and 2 Weeks for examination.
Course Description
The recent developments World over, due to technological advancement have made the World become a global village. This therefore, calls for all participants to respond to these changes if they are to compete favorably in this highly competitive market. There is a serious need to train human resources that have competences at the gate.
The programme is set up to meet the needs of managerial, administrative and secretarial personnel in public and private offices. It is composed of a combination of professional courses, which lead students into becoming professional secretaries/administrators as well as managers.
Human resource development has taken the centre stage as a result of privatization and globalization necessitating that there is demand for Institutions to train people for skills development in Secretarial studies, Management, Customer care and Information Technology.
The Diploma in Office Management and Secretarial Studies has been taught in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Governance following employers’ and the general public’s outcry about poor managerial skills, lack of editing skills, administrative skills, customer care, public relations and information Technology by the existing secretaries.
In the current trend, employers require trained people in customer care and compliant with Information Technology. In addition, international organizations require the command of at least two foreign languages including English.
On completion of the Programme, graduates have always been equipped with concepts, methods, techniques, tools, hands on and customer care skills that allow them to contribute towards the competitiveness of Government Ministries, international organisations, the private sector, and self-employment.
The programme course content has been based on the need to produce highly trained and skills-oriented graduates to manage Government and Private Sector offices and to create self-employment.
Rationale
Organizations cannot run without offices and offices cannot run by themselves, therefore they need officers who have skills to effectively manage them. Office Management and Secretarial Studies is a program intended to equip learners with these extraordinary skills to manage these offices competitively. In this ever changing world, these officers will be required to meet the demands of modern technology.
Programme objectives
The programme aims at training both academic and skills oriented graduates who can become job creators and offers courses which will enable a graduate to:
- Acquire efficient communication skills needed in all aspects of life.
- Establish and manage a secretarial bureau of international standards.
- Work in a Foreign Service as a bilingual/multilingual secretary who can provide translation and interpretation skills between the foreign office and their clients.
- Meet the demands of modern technology of using the computer to expedite work through manipulation of the computer communication services.
- Provide secretarial services to international conferences, which may require manipulation of Kiswahili, French and German Key Boards.
- Manage offices and be capable of making decisions in the absence of their executives.
- To produce highly trained secretaries who have skills that fit in the modern office environment and their challenging roles in the modern world.
- To train secretaries in the acquisition of managerial, administrative, communication and organizational skills.
- To avail training or upgrading opportunities to certificate holders in the field of Secretarial Studies.
Graduation requirements
In order to qualify for the award of a Diploma in Office Management and Secretarial Studies of Bishop Stuart University, a student must have satisfied the University Senate in the following:
- Must have been a registered student for the prescribed four semesters of this programme.
- Must have successfully completed the prescribed number of credit units for this programme which include internship/field attachment (89 credit units).
Retakes
- If a student fails a course, one must retake the course only when it is offered. A failed course can only be retaken twice.
- A candidate who fails the examination, having failed not more than three courses shall be permitted to retake examination in the failed course(s) and re-write the coursework.
- A candidate who fails the examination in more than three courses may be permitted to retake examinations in the failed courses provided that he/she does not proceed to the courses of the following semester. The candidate will retake the course and rewrite the coursework in a corresponding semester when he/she failed
Programme credit unit
The program has 90 credit units which all must be satisfied by a student
Examinations
Students will also be required to write a university examination that will contribute 60% of the final assessment. The course works and summative test will constitute 40%. The University examination rules and regulations governing other programmes shall apply to Diploma in Office Management and Secretarial Studies.
Assessment
Students will be required to do progressive course works and a summative test carrying a 40% mark and a final examination carrying a 60% mark.
Grading and classification of awards.
Each course will be graded out of a maximum of one hundred (100) marks. The grading will be as follows:
| Marks | Letter Grade | Grade Point | GPA | Explanation | Classification |
| 80-100 | A | 5.0 | 4.4 – 5.0 | Excellent | First Class (1) |
| 70 – 79 | B+ | 4.0 | 4.0 – 4.3 | Very good | Second Class Upper division (2:1) |
| 60 – 69 | B | 3.0 | 3.0 – 3.9 | Good | Second Class Lower division (2:1) |
| 50 – 59 | C | 2.0 | 2.0 – 2.9 | Satisfactory | Pass (3) |
| 0 – 49 | D | 1.0 | 0 – 1.9 | Failure |