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

2 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 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

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 Stakeholder BENEFIT

4  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 Students PhDstudent s Staff Theses & interns Industry stays Research stays Eval. of research results Courses Meetings & seminars Coordination group (ansvar/uppföljning) Industrial PhD-students Research- projects Bombardier Transportation

6 Win, 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!

7 ‘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

8 Software Engineering Master 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

9 Four directions of SE master

10 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

11 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

12 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

13 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..

14 Summary Aligned strategies between University and companies Industry, Education, recruitment, and research in symbiosis Success 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)