Integration of Work and Study in Computer Science

Abstract

Universities of Applied Sciences in Austria offer study courses especially designed and optimized for today needs of companies and students. During the last 20 years, several approaches have been worked out. Feedback of companies employing graduates and feedback of students are among the main driving factors in the process of optimizing these study programs. An important need of adaption of study programs arises from the preferences of students [1]. Today almost all students of computer science start to work in their field while still studying. In many cases, this comes from the fact that companies are intensively trying to attract students, as the labor market in the IT field increasingly demands personnel. This in turn leads to many dropouts of students who are not going to finish their studies. One approach to overcome this problem is to integrate the education experienced while working in companies with the education of students in computer science. At the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien, such a program started on the bachelor level in computer science [2]. In the present paper, the authors describe a program on the master’s level in software engineering, which is scheduled to be introduced in fall 2021.