Walking Through the Method Zoo: Does Higher Education really meet Software Industry Demands?

TL;DR

This study examines whether software engineering education in higher education institutions aligns with current industrial practices by analyzing 67 courses through a survey, revealing close reflection but some influence from course success considerations.

Contribution

It provides an empirical comparison between academic software engineering curricula and industry practices, highlighting areas of alignment and potential improvements.

Findings

Educational approaches closely mirror industry practices.

Course success considerations influence process choices.

Potential benefits in sequencing courses for better learning outcomes.

Abstract

Software engineering educators are continually challenged by rapidly evolving concepts, technologies, and industry demands. Due to the omnipresence of software in a digitalized society, higher education institutions (HEIs) have to educate the students such that they learn how to learn, and that they are equipped with a profound basic knowledge and with latest knowledge about modern software and system development. Since industry demands change constantly, HEIs are challenged in meeting such current and future demands in a timely manner. This paper analyzes the current state of practice in software engineering education. Specifically, we want to compare contemporary education with industrial practice to understand if frameworks, methods and practices for software and system development taught at HEIs reflect industrial practice. For this, we conducted an online survey and collected information about 67 software engineering courses. Our findings show that development approaches taught at HEIs quite closely reflect industrial practice. We also found that the choice of what process to teach is sometimes driven by the wish to make a course successful. Especially when this happens for project courses, it could be beneficial to put more emphasis on building learning sequences with other courses.