Software engineering education: an idealized scenario

The ideal scenario for software engineering education in corporates a broadly based undergraduate program in computer science, mathematics, science, social sciences, business, and management; followed by one to two years of programmer-level work experience; followed by a professionally oriented masters program in software engineering; followed by a one to two year period of professional-level apprenticeship; followed, for some, by training at the doctoral level. Completion of each stage of the idealized program qualifies the graduate for a corresponding level of duties and responsibilities as a software engineer. This paper describes an idealized, comprehensive program of software engineering education, and is extracted from the technical report, “The Role of Academe in Software Engineering Education,” TR-85-19, Wang Institute, October, 1985.