Bridging the Gap between Academia and Industry in CSEd to Promote Opportunities for CSEd Grads and Research in Practice

ABSTRACTThere is currently an existing gap between Computer Science Education (CSE/CSEd) academia and the industry (e.g., government, profit, non-profit organizations, and research centres). It was evident in the findings for our recent research, "Identifying Opportunities and Potential Roadblocks for CSEd Professionals," presented at the ICER 2021. We discovered that the industry is unaware of CSE as a discipline, and qualification requirements for jobs relevant to CSEd exclude CSEd expertise. On the other hand, our study revealed that graduate students are interested in industry jobs. Still, their advisors discourage them from considering such employment. This disarticulation negatively impacts students, academia, and industry. Graduate students are left with little or no information and guidance to develop their career pathways and use their learned skills. Innovative research from academia is developed as theory without application to the industry. Also, the industry does not benefit from the CSE research and expertise. This Birds-of-Feathers (BOF) will bring together academic faculty members, graduate students, and industry representatives to bridge the existing gap by discussing the challenges and potential solutions. For additional information, visit https://www.csedgrad.org/birds-of-a-feather.