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Collaborating with Industry to Improve Realism and Employability in Undergraduate Software Engineering

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Marie Devlin, Professor Chris Phillips

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Abstract

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 For many years now the School of Computing Science at Newcastle University, UK has been collaborating with a variety of industrial contacts to improve the employability of its undergraduate students. One way that industry has become involved with students is via a team project for our software engineering module in second year. Initially, employers would conduct ‘mock’ interviews for the students and give them feedback on their CVs and interview performance as part of the assessment for the module. However, in recent years, the involvement of employers in this module has increased, mirroring the growth in demand for graduates with demonstrable transferable skills and practical experience in the competencies required by these companies to compete in the global software market. This paper details our experiences of working with employers in the software engineering module and describes how and why their role in helping us design and develop our curriculum has changed over the last few academic years. We outline the changes we have made to the module to incorporate industry concerns and to help students develop both the technical and ‘soft’ skills required by their profession. We then outline the reasons why employers need to have more input into the curriculum, highlight the issues that might prevent employers participating fully in undergraduate engineering education and suggest some ways these issues can be overcome.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Devlin M, Phillips C

Editor(s): The Silesian University of Technology

Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

Publication status: Published

Conference Name: International Conference on Engineering Education

Year of Conference: 2010

Pages: 1-8

ISSN: 1562-3580


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