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Integration of Software Engineering Graduate Education and Continuing Professional Development Programs

Abstract

Monmouth University offers a thirty-six credit graduate program in software engineering. In support of the US Army’s Software Engineering Center at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, the program has accommodated a group of new Army employees every year since 1988, giving them an opportunity to earn a master’s degree in software engineering during the first few years of their employment. In addition to providing an opportunity for new employees to earn a master’s degree the Army makes available a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program for their new employees. In a recent study, the CPD program and its links to the graduate program were reviewed by the authors from the perspective of the combined ability of the master’s program and the CPD program to meet the ongoing needs of technical professional employees. In this paper, we present a summary of the literature relevant to future trends in graduate software engineering education, a description of the study method, results, and several recommendations regarding potential revisions of the continuing professional development program and its relationship to the master’s program. Background

The US Army’s Software Engineering Center (SEC) at Fort Monmouth, NJ provides the US Army with state-of-the-art software engineering products and services from the development of new software applications to world-wide technical support for deployed systems. The technical professional workforce in the organization includes engineers, computer scientists and information technologists. Its staff has access to an extensive program of continuing professional development, including an innovative incubator to develop human capital, called the Transformation Cell (T-Cell) Program. In this program, selected new employees are centrally hired and provided with extended rotational assignments across the organization while engaged in a variety of technology initiatives. Since 1988, SEC has sought to strengthen its capacity to recruit software engineers by sponsoring new employees who study toward a master’s degree in software engineering at Monmouth University. To date, over 600 students have graduated from Monmouth University’s MSSE program with almost half of them being Army employees. Of those, over one half are still employed by the Army and many of the others are currently employed by US Department of Defense organizations throughout the United States.

Monmouth University is a comprehensive teaching university, with approximately 4000 undergraduate students and 2000 master’s students. The Department of Software Engineering is part of the University’s School of Science, Technology and Engineering. It established a master’s degree program in 1986 and an ABET accredited BSSE program in 2000.

After completing the master’s degree program professional employees in the SEC are expected to maintain and expand their expertise through a continuing professional development program.

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Lutz, F., & McDonald, J. (2009, June), Integration Of Software Engineering Graduate Education And Continuing Professional Development Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--4592