Review of university degree course accreditation Bill Mitchell, Director of Education, BCS

Top ten highest unemployment rates by degree subject BCS Academy of Computing

What’s that got to do with BCS? 80% of universities accredited by BCS A lot of major stakeholders, including government, believe accreditation is supposed to reflect employability. They have been asking: If graduates are not employable how come they have BCS accredited degrees? BCS Academy of Computing

A little history Roundtables on why so many computer science graduates are apparently unemployed, and how this is related to degree course accreditation have been run by: and BIS November 2013 BIS + HEFCE August 2014 and BIS + Cabinet Office December 2014 BCS Academy of Computing

BCS began collaboration with CPHC and Russell Group. The Russell Group Summer of 2014 several major universities question balance between the value of BCS accreditation and the effort involved in process. All Russell Group heads of departments supported calls to streamline accreditation process to redress balance. BCS began collaboration with CPHC and Russell Group. BCS Academy of Computing

BCS began a fundamental review of its degree course accreditation in late autumn 2014. A wide ranging consultation with employers, universities and government followed. BCS Academy of Computing

March 2015 held workshop for employers, academics, and government. Process March 2015 held workshop for employers, academics, and government. Workshop attended by senior delegates from Microsoft (Corporate Affairs Director & Senior Director of Technical Evangelism), Google (UK Engineering Director), Deloitte (Technology Partner), BP (Director of Enterprise Architecture), HP (Chief of Staff UK) , Ocado (Director of Technology) , ARM, SSE (Director of IT), BT (Director of Workforce Management & Technical Faculty) and Metaswitch Networks. BCS Academy of Computing

Process Also attended by Sir Nigel Shadbolt, and representatives of BIS, Digital Economy Unit (DCMS), and HEFCE And academics from the universities of Warwick, Southampton, Edinburgh, Oxford Brookes, Imperial College, Oxford, Kent, Napier, Manchester, and Greenwich BCS Academy of Computing

IT employers can’t get enough good graduate recruits I need hard core Computer Science graduates. I can’t get enough of them. I’ll take any really bright graduate and give them IT training. I can’t get enough of them. I need IT graduates with good business skills. I can’t get enough of them. BCS Academy of Computing

Tech City entrepreneur: Employers Tech City entrepreneur: “There just aren’t enough Computer Scientists in the UK. And we need Computer Scientists, we don’t need – what do they call it – ICT trained people.” Tech London Advocates: “The education system does not equip young people with the digital or business skills that tech companies so desperately need.” BCS Academy of Computing

Purpose = ??? Value = ??? From consultation we learnt: Stakeholders were unclear about the current purpose of accreditation and its value. Ensuring accreditation is of value to employers is seen by all stakeholders as key to its future relevance. Working group set up to conduct fundamental review in March 2015, chaired by Paul Martynenko with support from Jeff Magee Purpose = ??? Value = ??? BCS Academy of Computing

Accreditation review working group update Considering change of purpose to: Accreditation confirms that a degree course equips graduates with the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to embark on a professional career in IT BCS Academy of Computing

Accreditation review working group update Considering various possibilities for further consultation with stakeholders, including: Accreditation of professional skills against rigorously defined national skills criteria, validated through depth of employer engagement with students on degree course. Accreditation should no longer be one size fits all. Employer validation should signpost the career profiles a degree supports in plain language. Accreditation of knowledge and understanding should be based on degree outcomes, and only consider processes if there are doubts about standards. BCS Academy of Computing

Accreditation review working group update These changes would be different from what we have now, which is concerned with checking if course appropriate for future BCS professional membership or Chartered status. Proposals much more clearly aligned with the BCS overarching purpose of making IT good for society, and our Royal Charter object of establishing and maintaining standards of education for the benefit of the public. BCS Academy of Computing

Streamlining accreditation process What Next Streamlining accreditation process Tony Field (Imperial) and Steve Pettifer (Manchester) helping BCS academic accreditation committee with reducing bureaucracy and reuse of documentation from existing QA looking at use of online live documentation, which would be maintained and continually updated as programmes changed Pilot new process end of 2016 https://wp.doc.ic.ac.uk/accreditation/ar/accreditation/ BCS Academy of Computing

With support from universities work with employers to: What next With support from universities work with employers to: Establish professional skills that different employer groups need from computing graduates (e.g. cybersecurity, finance, telecommunications, basic science research, etc.) Work with employers to define a skills framework that can inform our work on changes to accreditation. BCS Academy of Computing

What the Royal Academy of Engineering said in 2010 Identified good practice in engineering degree courses: experience-led components and work opportunities that enhance the student experience (including high quality industry placements) industrial input into degree programmes industrial relevance within degree programmes interaction and collaboration between industry and academia http://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/engineering-graduates-for-industry-report BCS Academy of Computing

Work with universities What next Work with universities Based on a successful outcome in defining employer led graduate skills framework, work with universities to find out how that could be used to inform the accreditation of professional skills graduates gain as a result of their degree course. Work with Engineering Council and Science Council Look at good practice from Engineering Council around employer engagement in degree course accreditation Ensure new ideas for BCS accreditation are aligned with licenses to award CEng and CSci BCS Academy of Computing

What are IT professional skills What are IT professional skills? Examples from SFIA for experienced IT professional Complexity Undertakes work which requires the application of fundamental principles in a wide and often unpredictable range of contexts. Capable of performing an extensive range and variety of complex technical and/or professional work activities. Understands the relationship between own specialism and wider customer/organisational requirements. Autonomy Works under broad direction. Work is often self-initiated. Establishes own milestones. Influence Able to influence peers on the contribution of own specialism. Builds appropriate and effective business relationships. Makes decisions which impact the success of assigned work, i.e. results, deadlines and budget. BCS Academy of Computing

What are IT professional skills? Examples from SFIA Business skills Analyse, design, plan, execute and evaluate work to time, cost and quality targets. Demonstrates creativity, innovation and ethical thinking in applying solutions for the benefit of the customer / stakeholder. Able to advise on available methods, tools and applications relevant to own specialism and can make appropriate choices from alternatives. Communicates effectively, both formally and informally. Facilitates collaboration between stakeholders who have diverse objectives. BCS Academy of Computing

Challenge for defining graduate skills How do we adapt/change/select/define skills such as those on previous slides that: are appropriate for new graduates are understood and valued by employers accepted as appropriate by universities can be successfully demonstrated that students have them by the end of a degree course BCS Academy of Computing

http://academy.bcs.org/accreditationreview BCS Academy of Computing