New courses introduced by the faculty of engineering this fall will help fill the estimated 1,500 positions in the province's software industry that are vacant because of a shortage of skilled information technology workers.
The new software engineering options are available to students completing degrees in computer engineering and computer science. The options stress an interdisciplinary approach and address software specification, design, testing, maintenance and application.
There are more than 500 registrants in software engineering courses offered this session and because the courses are integrated into existing degree programs, the first graduates are expected next May. The first full complement of graduates will convocate in May 2000 and the long-term objective is to produce 40 degree students annually.
"We've experienced healthy enrolment in the new courses and we expect demand to grow as more people hear about the software options offered here," says Dr. Michael Miller, dean of engineering.
In 1997, the report, Technology and Skills Gap analysis: B.C. Software Industry, prepared by the Software Productivity Centre, estimated that at least 880 software positions were vacant in the province. Other sources suggest that the actual figure may be between 1,500 and 2,000 positions.
Across Canada, the Ottawa-based Software Human Resources Council (SHRC) estimates that 20,000 software jobs are unfilled.
The need for software professionals is the main reason for the new UVic courses. The interdisciplinary approach recognizes that software engineering crosses traditional discipline boundaries.
But Dr. Eric Manning (computer science and electrical and computer engineering)-who coordinated development of the new curriculum and is a member of the SHRC task force-says there's more to it than just filling job vacancies. "The business of software engineering is maturing. The software that runs a telephone switch uses 30 million lines of code. Ten years ago, programs with multi-million lines of code didn't exist. And the amount of knowledge about software engineering (an academic subject since 1968) has reached a critical mass, so it's worth teaching."
Manning credits the Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology for increasing funding to the faculty ($350,000 annually) to allow the software options to go ahead. "They showed us the money," he quips.
More details about the software options are available on the faculty
of engineering Website at http://www.engr.uvic.ca.