2017 IEEE 30th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training

The CSEE&T Conference is now approaching 30 years of longevity. Software engineering education has changed a great deal in that timeframe. In 1986, software engineering education was largely undertaken by industry, with just a few academic software engineering programs in place. The Master of Software Engineering (MSE) reference curriculum changed the landscape of software engineering, resulting in many MSE programs worldwide, not to mention software engineering tracks within Computer Science (CS) masters’ programs. In the years that followed, software engineering education emerged at the undergraduate level, with a documented reference curriculum. Software engineering professionalism initiatives resulted in the certification and licensing of software engineers in a number of countries worldwide. We are seeing increased attention to software engineering specialty areas, and many software engineering degree programs have tracks to support these specialties.

On the industry side we are seeing an upheaval in software engineering as we know it. Software engineering is pervasive. Innovations such as Cloud Computing, autonomous vehicles, drones, bioengineering, and other initiatives have made for a rapidly changing landscape. Topics such as software assurance, safety, and reliability have become increasingly important knowledge areas. As educators we are challenged to keep up with the emerging trends, to identify suitable software engineering techniques, and to incorporate them into our class offerings. We are in a global economy with a software supply chain that can extend across many countries and regions. Each one has their own regulations and laws about safety, security, and privacy. Practicing software engineers change jobs frequently, so the value of in-house training is not as clear as it once was. In 2017 we want to focus on the changes that are taking place in the field, our response to it, and our vision of how we can move forward to meet the ever-increasing demand for qualified software engineers.