A SURVEY ON PERSPECTIVES ON THE GAP BETWEEN THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY AND THE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Abstract

In 1989, the gap between the software industry and software engineering education was first mentioned. Its existence has been regularly reported on since then, and solutions to close it have been proposed. However, after thirty years, all efforts to close the gap have failed. In this study, we argue that the gap between industry and academia exists for a variety of interconnected reasons. To take a broader look at the problem from the standpoint of all related entities, we provide a detailed overview of the profession and identify the entities, extract the causes that stem from these entities, and discuss what each entity should do, report and analyse the results of a questionnaire that was administered to students and recent graduates, highlight the highlights of interviews with students, recent graduates, and academics, We also contribute to finding solutions by considering all entities involved, which allows us to reach out to all of them and find out what they can do to acknowledge and close the gap. Our research concludes that the gap requires constant attention and hard work from all parties involved, and that everyone should be on the lookout for new technologies, learn to embrace changes, and adapt to them in order to keep the gap to a minimum.