Developing Work-Ready Software Engineers using Real-world Team-based Projects as a Catalyst for Learning

Ian Cooper, Christopher Gwilliams, Wendy Ivins, Carl Jones, Matthew Turner

Abstract


The National Software Academy in Wales is a recently
established collaboration between Cardiff University, Welsh
Government, the Alacrity Foundation and the technology
industry. The aim is to address the gap in the skills market for
work ready software engineers. The Academy runs an industry
focused BSc degree in Applied Software Engineering that sees
local and national industry partners actively participating in the
running of the program and gives students the opportunity to
work on real-world team-based projects throughout their degree
course. This paper reports on the first year of the program: the
success and positive engagement from industry partners, the
integrated style of delivery across program modules, and the
challenges faced going into year 2.


Keywords


Industry engagement; Project based learning; Team Projects; Live projects

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