WHAT INDUSTRY NEEDS AND WHAT WE TEACH IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY

In this survey we investigate the gap between the perception of academia and industry regarding information technology related academic fields. Target population of the survey segmented into three categories: IT professionals, IT Companies, and Academicians. The survey attempts to analyze issues such as IT companies’ skill expectations from professionals, content areas emphasized by academic institutions and skills needed by potential IT professionals. The survey was conducted using a Web based questionnaire and is advertised by directly approaching the three stakeholders: software professionals, academicians and employers. Three separate questionnaires were used corresponding to each stakeholder group. The questionnaire is intended to evaluate the technical and non-technical IT skill competences. The competence areas are based on topics from IT profession under three general categories: computer, software and general skills. Questions were prepared after very comprehensive investigation into the current curriculums of computer science, computer and software engineering departments of many different universities and dozens of IT companies from a number of different countries and Software Engineering Body of Knowledge. The questions focus on 71 topics and are organized in 6 categories encompassing a wide variety of skill and knowledge topics. The taxonomy is based on IT technology and IT processes. The results of the survey may help educational institutions to adjust their curriculum and move away from a generic and static curriculum towards a more adaptive one. The results may guide students to take courses more relevant to industry needs and help the teachers to structure their courses and improve teaching methods in order to maximize benefit to the students. The goal is to reduce the knowledge asymmetry in information technology fields so that that the potential graduates feel more prepared for the real world and employers can find ready-for-work employees without incurring extra training or orientation expenses (time and money).

[1]  Eileen M. Trauth,et al.  Critical Skills and Knowledge Requirements of IS Professionals: A Joint Academic/Industry Investigation , 1995, MIS Q..

[2]  Jeffrey W. Merhout,et al.  Soft Skills versus Technical Skills: Finding the Right Balance for an IS Curriculum , 2009, AMCIS.

[3]  Sotiris Skevoulis.  Engineering a successful partnership between academia and the financial industry: A software engineering program for IT professionals , 2011, 2011 24th IEEE-CS Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T).

[4]  Jane Huffman Hayes,et al.  Energizing Software Engineering Education through Real-World Projects as Experimental Studies , 2002, CSEE&T.

[5]  Yongbeom Kim,et al.  An Update on the IS/IT Skills Gap , 2006, J. Inf. Syst. Educ..

[6]  Dale W. Callahan,et al.  Educating Experienced IT Professionals by Addressing Industry's Needs , 2002, IEEE Softw..

[7]  Dean Knudson,et al.  Investigating the skill gap between graduating students and industry expectations , 2014, ICSE Companion.

[8]  Bruce A. Reinig,et al.  Aligning the Information Systems Curriculum with the Needs of Industry and Graduates , 2007, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[9]  Inmaculada Plaza,et al.  From Companies to Universities: Application of R&D&I Concepts in Higher Education Teaching , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Education.

[10]  Chris Pilgrim.  Industry involvement in ICT curriculum: A comparative survey , 2013, 2013 35th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE).

[11]  Timothy Lethbridge,et al.  A survey of the relevance of computer science and software engineering education , 1998, Proceedings 11th Conference on Software Engineering Education.

[12]  Soheil Khajenoori,et al.  Collaborations: Closing the Industry-Academia Gap , 1997, IEEE Softw..

[13]  B. Dawn Medlin,et al.  Students' Views of the Importance of Techncal and Non-Technical Skills for Successful it Professionals , 2001, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[14]  L.J. Burnell,et al.  Teaching Distributed Multidisciplinary Software Development , 2002, IEEE Softw..

[15]  James J. Cappel.  Entry-Level is Job Skills: A Survey of Employers , 2002, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[16]  Jon A. Preston.  Utilizing authentic, real-world projects in information technology education , 2005, SITE.

[17]  Ana María Moreno,et al.  Balancing software engineering education and industrial needs , 2012, J. Syst. Softw..

[18]  Timothy Lethbridge,et al.  What knowledge is important to a software professional? , 2000, Computer.

[19]  David A. Carrington,et al.  An industry/university collaboration to upgrade software engineering knowledge and skills in industry , 2005, J. Syst. Softw..

[20]  Debbie B. Tesch,et al.  An Examination of Employers’ Perceptions and Expectations of IS Entry-Level Personal and Interpersonal Skills , 2006 .

[21]  Birgit Penzenstadler,et al.  University meets industry: Calling in real stakeholders , 2013, 2013 26th International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T).