Where will professional software engineering education go next?

In 1998 Lethbridge surveyed software engineering professionals and found that there were aspects of their degree that they saw as being useless to their jobs. This study was repeated in 2005 with very similar results despite a significant tightening of the research method. Inspired by this input to the curriculum development process we studied 20 years of curriculum at a University chosen for its very close ties to industry. The study showed that there has been a continual and growing move towards integrating specific technical issues into organisational context. The indication is that curriculum valued by industry will involve students being immersed in business problems rather than learning technical skills and then finding a place to apply them