On Curriculum Tailored for Software Engineering Companies
[Ed. note: This is courtesy of the first, and possibly only, guest writer for Crimson Crux -- Ia Lucero of Qwerky. Take it away, Ia.]
I’ll be straight. This article caught my eye simply because it was about software. I saw several good things mentioned in it, including:
- Favoring fresh graduates instead of requiring at least two years of experience
- Being involved with open source applications
- Founding an incubator firm with a Filipino name (”Simula Labs”)
But this one left a mark:
“Another Philippine-based software firm, Exist Engineering, is now working with local universities to design courses that will prepare fresh graduates for a software engineering job at the company.”
And I just had to protest. UP Diliman (or any other UP for that matter) does NOT aspire to design a Computer Science curriculum “optimized” for companies. It is designed based on ACM/IEEE standards—that’s the number one priority based on this list—something far more significant than just one branch of opportunities for (CS-related) work.
I could entertain the possibility that the statement simply means they’re aiming to increase the quality of education of schools in this country particularly to improve the software engineering sector, but the idea is for any academe to aspire for the highest computing standards, regardless of the profession afterwards, regardless of any corporate entity’s influence.
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- About
September 11th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Whilst the Computer Science programme of UP Diliman is geared towards hard-core Computer Science (as opposed to other CS programmes from the OTHER universities), it should be noted that Software Engineering is also part of the ACM/IEEE standards. In fact, I am proposing a Software Engineering track for CS since this is where most of the graduates go anyway.
September 15th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
There’s nothing wrong with Software Engineering per se. The problem is when the schools face the threat of commercialization, or at least an influence coming solely from one “market”. Law of supply and demand? It should be about the University deciding on its own.
And yes, creating an appropriate track is a great way to improve the course especially in Diliman. Too bad I missed the real “feel” of specialization from year one, something that has yet to be implemented, I believe.