bridging the gap between academia and industry
Post on 19-Oct-2014
667 views
DESCRIPTION
Presentation at SPiN conference in Belgrade, 5 Nov 2013TRANSCRIPT
Bridging the gap between higher education and industry:
the case of ICT sector
Mart LaanpereTallinn University, Estonia
The gap
• University as autonomous, knowledge-seeking and knowledge-creating institution:– Humboldtian idea of research university – Scientific disciplines and their reflection in the
faculty/departmental structure of university– University professor: mainly researcher
• University as the source of professionally trained specialists, job market driven academia: – Outcome-based funding schemes in higher education– European Qualification Framework and competence-
based curricula in universities
Expectations of ICT industry
• Recent study by Praxis (praxis.ee) on ICT workforce in Estonia revealed: – Jobs in ICT sector: software engineers (25%), managers (12%), project
managers (8%), user support (12%), sysadmins (12%), analysts & architects (9%), testers (8%), network admins (9%)
– Growing trend: ICT specialists in other sectors (Everything is IT!)– Employers expected to hire lesser amount of ICT graduates than
projected, but different kind• Expectations of employers in ICT sector towards ICT graduates:
– Key competences: team work, creativity, problem solving, presentation…– Inderdisciplinarity: ICT and medicine, public administration, law,
environment, entertainment, media, education, business…– Internationalisation: experience in blending into international setting
already during the study period
Bridging the gap: the Estonian case
• The national programme of ICT• IT Academy: http://studyITin.ee• Competence centres (e.g. Eliko.ee), industry-oriented
applied research• Summer schools, teachers from the industry• Interdisciplinarity: multi-disciplinary and open Master
programs (e-governance, educational technology, biotech)
• Employers in curriculum and defense committees, practical placement, supervising diploma theses
• Innovation vouchers 4000 EUR
TEMPUS INCOMING project
• Interdisciplinary curricula in computing to meet the labor market needs in Serbia
• Problems addressed by the project: – lack of interdisciplinary study programmes in
Serbia– lack of compliance between job market
requirements and university curricula– limited international orientation of Serbian IT-
curricula
Objectives of the INCOMING project
• to initiate capacity building for interdisciplinary computing studies offered both in English and in Serbian and in at least one of the following three modes of study: face-to-face mode, distance learning, and blended mode
• to develop, accredit, implement and evaluate the following interdisciplinary study programmes related to computing to be taught in English and in Serbian: – Management and Computing (BSc) – Intelligent Systems (PhD) – Social Sciences and Computing (MSc) – Information technology for E-Business (MSc) – ICT for Governance and Administration (MSc) – Computer Games (BSc)
• to increase employability by targeting Serbian labor market needs in interdisciplinary computing field
Consortium of the INCOMING project
• 4 Serbian universities:– University of Belgrade– University of Kragujevac– University of Novi Sad– Metropolitan University
• 3 EU universities: Tallinn, Crete, Aberdeen• 3 job market partners: Comtrade, Union Čačak
2000, Mihajlo Pupin Institute• Chamber of Commerce and Industry• National Council of Higher Education
Expected outcomes
• analysis of the state-of-the-art of relevant policies, related practices, legal regulations, and labor market needs related to interdisciplinary study programmes at the Serbian universities and at EU universities
• development, accreditation, implementation and evaluation of interdisciplinary study programmes specified above to be taught in English and in Serbian as either campus-based, distance learning, and/or blended mode delivery
• increased mobility of students who complete such an interdisciplinary degree study programme
• increased employment opportunities for students who complete developed interdisciplinary degree study programme
Additional information
• The project Web site: tempus-incoming.eu • [email protected]