Software Engineering 2009(GSwE2009): Curriculum Guidelines for Graduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering

Art Pyster

Abstract

Software engineering (SwE) is ―the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software.‖1 SwE principles and practices are essential for the development of large, complex, or trustworthy systems. In 1989 the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) published a set of recommendations for creating curricula for master‘s programs in SwE.2 Those recommendations were highly regarded and used by many universities in shaping their graduate SwE programs. Since 1989 the way software is developed has changed dramatically. Software‘s scale, complexity, and criticality have mushroomed, yet no significant effort has been made to revisit and update the original SEI recommendations. (An updated report was published in 1991, but the curriculum recommendations were virtually unchanged.) In 2007, a coalition from academia, industry, government, and professional societies formed the Integrated Software and Systems Engineering Curriculum (iSSEc) project to create a reference curriculum3 that reflects current development practices and the greater role of software in today‘s systems. The U.S. Department of Defense‘s (DoD) Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is the principal iSSEc sponsor, motivated by the many challenges in acquiring, operating, and maintaining defense systems whose functionality and performance depend heavily on tractable and cost-effective software.