How Well Does Undergraduate Education Prepare Software Engineers? Perspectives of Practitioners in Bangladesh

Ishtiaque Hussain, Ahmed Shamim Hasan, Rafed Muhammad Yasir, Ahmedul Kabir, Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

While the sole purpose of undergraduate education is not to prepare the students for the industry, it is certainly one of its important objectives. In this work, we investigate how well the Bangladeshi software and IT-related undergraduate education prepares the students for the software industry. We conducted semi-structured interviews of twenty practitioners from the Bangladeshi software industry. During the interviews, these practitioners provided commentary on where they believe the undergraduate education system falls short, and provided their suggestions for improvement. Based on the themes discovered from the interviews, we created a survey where more than two hundred practitioners participated. The results of our work suggest that most of the practitioners believe that, while some aspects of the undergraduate education are fine, the undergraduate education system leaves its graduates largely unprepared for the software industry. In this paper, we summarize and present the practitioners' opinions on some key areas including but not limited to updating of syllabi, internships as part of the curricula, the nature, length and evaluation process of undergraduate projects, pedagogical issues, and academic practices.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2020 IEEE 32nd Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, CSEE and T 2020
EditorsMarian Daun, Elke Hochmuller, Stephan Krusche, Bernd Brugge, Bastian Tenbergen
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages134-143
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781728168074
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2020
Event32nd IEEE Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, CSEE and T 2020 - Munich, Germany
Duration: Nov 9 2020Nov 12 2020

Publication series

Name2020 IEEE 32nd Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, CSEE and T 2020

Conference

Conference32nd IEEE Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, CSEE and T 2020
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityMunich
Period11/9/2011/12/20

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Education
  • Software

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