On the evolution of an industrial software engineering

On the evolution of an industrial software engineering graduate program Sasikumar Punnekkat, Christer Norström, Lars-Olof Gustafsson, V. Rajanna

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 basis Locally 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 2

MDH’ s position A modern university building our competitiveness on COOPERATION Cooperation Stakeholder BENEFIT Academic excellence Internationalisation We believe in knowledge as a basis for development and change

Rationals behind industry- university cooperation § § § § Recruitment Services Solutions & startups Gateway to industrial & university networks Hub for reflection and innovation Investments in future generations It is fun! 4

Model of cooperation Bombardier Transportation Coordination. Meetings & group seminars (ansvar/uppföljning) Theses & inter ns stays y r t s u d In es s r Cou s Students ea Res Ph. Dstudent s Staff Eval. o f resea Industrial Research. Ph. D-students projects tay rch s rch res ults

Win, win experiences MDH-Ericsson-TCS Governance - Cultural awareness - Perception & expectations on each other - Ordering competence - Team building Innovation - Common seminars to foster culture Networks - Direct contact to expertise within different areas - Door opener to universities in India and Sweden Competence building - Ericsson ODC best practice within TCS - Multicultural skills - Improved education & industrial involvement - Competence buildup of our common resources Almost for free! 6

‘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 7

Software Engineering Master Programs@MDU Two Master Programs • Magister Program in Software Engineering, 60 ECTS • Master Program in Software Engineering, 120 ECTS MSc SE 60 credits MSc SE 120 credits 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 8

Four directions of SE master 9

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 10

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 • 11

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 • 12

Experiences from the first year-cont. . • 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 thesis themes and also keeping the group alive through special meetings even after their study program needed and planned 13

Summary Aligned strategies between University and companies • Industry, Education, recruitment, and research in symbiosis Success factors • Value focused • Trust based • Innovative thinking • Win-win Future outlook • Plans to extend to ABB & Volvo etc next year • Also in other disciplines and countries (Korea, Ukraine) 14