On the evolution of an industrial software engineering graduate program

Sasikumar Punnekkat, Christer Norström, Lars-Olof Gustafsson, V. Rajanna

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Global context

Globally - Millions of top talent globally - Competence development number one in Asia - American universities attracts the top talent - The world economy is expected to triple by 2050 - Hi-tech city (Hyderabad) growing with the size of Kista on a monthly basisLocally in Sweden - Top talent to be counted in thousands - Hard to attract students to technical studies - Innovations are often exported - Emerging markets and business growth far away - Young people with new behaviors entering the arena, how to take advantage? But Sweden - still has outstanding system architects - has the know how to run global projects - is a multicultural society - has the brands! - is flexible

A modern university building our competitiveness on COOPERATION

MDH’ s position

Internationalisation

Academic excellence

We believe in knowledge as a basis for development and change

Cooperation

StakeholderBENEFIT

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Recruitment Services Solutions & startups Gateway to industrial & university

networks Hub for reflection and innovation Investments in future generations It is fun!

Rationals behind industry- university cooperation

Model of cooperation

StudentsStudents

PhDstudents

PhDstudents

StaffStaff

Theses & interns

Industry stays

Research stays

Eval. of research results

Courses

Meetings &seminars

Coordinationgroup

(ansvar/uppföljning)

IndustrialPhD-students

Research-projects

Bombardier Transportation

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Win, win, win experiences MDH-Ericsson-TCS

Governance - Cultural awareness - Perception & expectations on each other - Ordering competence - Team buildingInnovation - Common seminars to foster cultureNetworks - Direct contact to expertise within different areas - Door opener to universities in India and SwedenCompetence building - Ericsson ODC best practice within TCS - Multicultural skills - Improved education & industrial involvement - Competence buildup of our common resources

Almost for free!

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‘Top Talents Program’ : Motivations

•Ericsson (A Swedish Telecom MNC )• Outsources large projects in India etc • Interested in competency development of partners • Enhancing the talent pool for future recruitments

cost-effectively.•TCS (A large Indian IT company)

• a preferred partners of Ericsson in India. • Want to widen the scope of academic interface

program and attract top class students•MDU (A young and dynamic Swedish University)

• looking for top class student recruitments and research collaborations with industry

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Software Engineering Master Programs@MDU

Two Master Programs• Magister Program in Software Engineering, 60 ECTS • Master Program in Software Engineering, 120 ECTS

Two profiles• Software architecture• Real-time embedded systems

•GSEEM (Global Software Engineering European Master)• In cooperation with L’Aquila-Italy, VU University Amsterdam &

University of Westminster-London • Achieving excellence through integrated knowledge• Double degree

MSc SE 60 credits

MSc SE 120 credits

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Four directions of SE master

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Top Talents Program’:Industrial Master Program (1 year)- Software Engineering

•Strong focus on Industrial requirements & relevance •A one year program started in 2008 August - 60 ECTS •Top talents encouraged to take more courses- upto 90 ECTS•Courses included are:

– Component technologies– Industrial Systems Engineering– Distributed Software development– Software verification &validation (with focus on testing)– Software development for high integrity systems– Advanced component based Software Engineering– Innovation and management in a global context

•Industrial project/Thesis work (6 months)•Management attention program from Ericsson

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Partner roles in the program

Ericsson provides• Scholarships• industrial mentors for each student.• exposure to the industrial work culture.• education in their inhouse development processes, methods, platforms and relevant tools.

• guest lectures by senior experts as part of the courses in the program

TCS • Recruits students(inhouse & through university links)• Travel support• Student agreements

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Experiences from the first year

• Well-received by the students and all stakeholders, • The top talent students team reached the finals at the ICSE SCORE 2009 Software Engineering Project contest

• Important to have support programs like• interaction with researchers at the university• social integration in the host country• “tourist” program

• Support group spirit, e.g., through activities and a home base (classroom, special lab)

•An introduction to academic writing is essential• Extended responsibility on the program coordinator as well as teachers

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• Increase frequency of meetings with Industrial mentors • Project management is a key success factor • Frequent stakeholders updates and follow up on actions (study visits, payment of scholarships, student performance appraisals etc).

• Need for a clear plan which is communicated to the students, both regarding activities and responsibilities during the program.

• Need for a individual career plan upon completion of the program. Continuous contact with the employer during the program is crucial.

• Continued involvement in the thesis themes and also keeping the group alive through special meetings even after their study program needed and planned

Experiences from the first year-cont..

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Summary

Aligned strategies between University and companies• Industry, Education, recruitment, and research in

symbiosisSuccess factors

• Value focused• Trust based• Innovative thinking• Win-win-win

Future outlook• Plans to extend to ABB & Volvo etc next year• Also in other disciplines and countries (Korea, Ukraine)