Developing a Work-based Software Engineering Degree in Collaboration with Industry

Work-based learning has been in practice in Software Engineering for some time, but only in recent years has it been introduced as a pathway to an honours-level undergraduate degree across the UK. Through the lens of one such scheme, the Graduate Apprenticeship programme in Scotland, we have investigated what challenges work-based learning degree programmes are likely to face and took this question to 26 industry partners. Also, since we are aware of a persistent skills gap between Software Engineering graduates and entry-level industry roles, we investigated the skills that Software Development teams are looking for in Scotland. This paper details our findings concerning perceived challenges to industry, the skills and knowledge to be imparted at university and the workplace learning opportunities which can be exploited by companies.