Abstract:

Universities should provide specialists needed by the market and society in appropriate numbers. In the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), there is a large lack of specialists around the world. This lack is also felt at universities, causing the reduction of their education capacity. Under these conditions, the problem of adapting the ICT curriculum to the current needs of the ICT industry becomes more acute.

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) proposed a recommendation for Computing Curricula (CC), covering undergraduate programmes in five different sub-disciplines: Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, and Software Engineering. The ACM/IEEE CC defined a whole range of competence areas, stipulating that CC should be adapted to the requirements of local and global ICT industry.

This paper presents the research methodology and the results of surveys carried out among the ICT industry in Kyrgyzstan. The study was designed to indicate the directions of change in training undergraduates in computing at the Kyrgyz State Technical University, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In keeping with the ACM/IEEE CC, the survey contains two sets of competence areas: related to the field of computer science and beyond it.

Approximately forty-five percent of the ICT companies in Kyrgyzstan had difficulties in employing new IT professionals. The results of the study have allowed to find the most needed competences of the ICT industry. The detailed analysis and mapping survey results into five CC sub-disciplines allowed to determine the curricula most needed by the ICT industry. These are Software Engineering and Information Systems. The methodology presented here can be used by other universities to adjust their curricula to the market needs.

Keywords:

Undergraduates programmes, computing curricula, needs of labour market.