“SoftAware: International cooperation in the field of higher education for developing software talents” aims to create a transnational partnership between the major actors responsible for IT professionals’ enhancement, namely HE, research centres, employers, professional associations, social partners, VET providers and SMEs to foster the development of software talents across Europe. During the 2 years of implementation of SoftAware, the aim of the partners is to create stable networks of reference stakeholders for ICT and software development in 4 of the partner countries – Lithuania, Bulgaria, Portugal and Cyprus whose goal will be to foster the continuous update of the educational curriculum. SoftAware strives to achieve the following objectives: • Enable up-to-date content of software engineering education by (re-)designing the HE curriculum in several EU countries by systematically consulting a wide range of stakeholder groups and bringing in technical experts from companies in the ICT sector to help the design of lessons and educational materials; • Strengthen ongoing dialogue and closer cooperation between industry and education to support mutual understanding of digital skills needs and encourage strong practical components in education; • Stimulate work based learning in HE through creating opportunities for apprenticeships and other types of work-based learning in the field of ICT; • Enhance HE students soft skills to foster professional career advancement. In order to achieve these objectives the project envisages developing the following intellectual outputs: IO1 Bachelor Degree Curriculum in Software Technologies: the aim of the curriculum is to equip software engineering graduates with the skills needed by the industry. It will incorporate industry best practice and state of the art technology. IO2 SoftAware Open Online Courses: the output will comprise 3 open online courses building blocks of the international curriculum, developed in IO1. The selected 3 courses, namely, Synthesis and analysis of algorithms, Design and testing of software and Software Project Management will be the building blocks for the whole training programme. Their joint development will allow for more in-depth content, considering different stakeholders’ perspective. IO3 SoftAware Soft Skills Toolkit for University Lecturers in Computer Sciences: the short e-learning training material will be aimed at academic staff and will focus on: the most demanded soft skills in the computer science industry today, the skills for the future labor market, tips for HE teachers and other staff to raise the awareness of students about the importance to develop their soft skills, examples how soft skills were booted with the support of teaches and other HE staff. The set of practical tools with exercises and case studies from real business situations will equip students with the most in-demand skills that employers are searching for: strategic thinking, teamwork, analytical skills, project management, making them suitable for current and future roles. The target groups of the project include HE Students from partner universities’ faculties and across Europe, HE Teachers and other academic staff, HE Stakeholders responsible for IT professionals’ enhancement, namely employers, professional associations, social partners, VET providers, higher education, research centres, regulatory bodies and local/regional/national authorities. As a result of the project HE students will develop specific up-to-date skills & competences in software technologies and will benefit from enhanced soft skills that will support their better integration in the world of business, including co-worker and customer interaction. Academic staff will have the chance to update their teaching methods but also check their knowledge and skills against the realities of the business world while IT companies will benefit from the better-prepared HE students to enter the workforce with already developed relevant-to-the-market competences in software. Graduating students from the specialty will be employable not only in their countries of residence but also throughout Europe. In this way, IT companies at European level will benefit from the better prepared graduates who are able to immediately enter the work force without further in-house training. The joint efforts for establishing relevant & up-to-date curriculum focused on software technologies (which is a forward-looking filed) will facilitate bridging Europe's knowledge, skills and competences gap. The better cooperation between education, business and intermediary organizations will evolve in more sustainable long-term partnerships at EU level. Thus another impact of the project will be the improved cooperation between EU institutions in addressing common issues and challenges such as up-to-date curricula relevant to business needs and stronger cooperation between European HE institutions.
By implementing the SoftAware project the following objectives were achieved: - Developed up-to-date content of software engineering education by (re-)designing the HE curriculum in BG, LT, PT, CY through systematic consultations with a wide range of stakeholder groups and bringing in technical experts from companies in the ICT sector to help the design of lessons and educational materials; - Strengthened ongoing dialogue and closer cooperation between industry and education to support mutual understanding of digital skills needs and encouraged strong practical components in education; - Stimulated work-based learning in HE through creating opportunities for apprenticeships and other types of work-based learning in the field of ICT; - Enhanced HE students’ soft skills to foster their professional career advancement; - Updated HEs’ staff knowledge, skills and teaching methods according to the realities of the business world to help HE students develop relevant-to-the-market competences in software engineering; - Strengthened cooperation between education, business and intermediary organizations to tackle HE and business needs in the ICT sector at EU level.
The enormous rise of the software industry for the last two decades resulted in an ever-growing demand of IT skills. Despite the 5.5 million developers in Europe, EU-28 countries are still estimated to suffer a shortage of 500.000 software engineers by 2020. At the same time, there is almost 20% youth unemployment in the EU. At a time when Europe faces massive unemployment, technology companies face a critical shortfall of talented ICT experts. This contradictory picture reveals a mismatch between the skills on offer and those in demand. Aiming to facilitate bridging Europe's knowledge, skills and competences gap in the field of software technologies, as well as foster the development of software talents across Europe, the SoftAware project created a transnational partnership between the major actors responsible for IT professionals’ enhancement, namely HE, research centres, employers, professional associations, social partners, VET providers and SMEs, who contributed to a continuous update of the educational curriculum in software engineering in 4 partner countries – Lithuania, Bulgaria, Portugal and Cyprus.