Abstract:

Finnish IT-companies are facing a shortage of software engineers in several fields of software development. The field evolves quickly as new technologies appear, the processing power of computers grows and as data available for processing becomes abundant. How can a university of applied sciences keep its teaching relevant from the point of view of companies that need personnel with new skills and knowledge? How do the teachers keep their own professional knowledge and skills up to date to be able to pass the knowledge and skills on to their students? How do the educational institutions know in the first place what kind of skills and knowledge the employers need? This paper presents a model for tackling the above mentioned challenges in the context of university level education of future and current IT-professionals. The model has been tested in the teaching of artificial intelligence to undergraduate students of business information technology.

The model has four stakeholders: companies needing skilled workforce, companies providing technological solutions, teachers and students. The initiative to develop the skills and knowledge of both teachers and students comes from the companies which have an active role all the way through. The model also describes how the new skills and knowledge can be taken into account in the often rigid curriculums of higher education providers and how students may start learning even before their teacher. In the end, also the participating companies end up gaining new knowledge and skills.

The model has now been implemented twice and experiences have been gathered from all stakeholders. These are thoroughly analyzed and put into context in the paper. The model is clearly a success among both students and companies. Some former students have been employed in the field of artificial intelligence or are writing their thesis on the topic. Companies are willing to provide more lectures, project work topics and mentoring than can be taken into the course that implements the model.

Keywords:

Professional knowledge and skills, business information technology curriculum, life-long learning for teachers, higher education, company cooperation.