An efficient set of software degree programs for one domain

There is increasing urgency to put software engineering (SE) programs in place at universities in North America. For years, the computer science and professional engineering communities neglected the area, but both are now paying serious attention. There is creative tension as efforts accelerate to define the field faster than is possible. This paper discusses a set of four software degree programs that have evolved over 14 years at a small university with close ties to one software community. The context is computer engineering in a department of electrical and computer engineering, so the natural domain is software that is close to the hardware. This means an emphasis on real-time, embedded, and, to a lesser extent, safety critical issues. The newest of the four programs is a Ph.D. program. It demonstrates that Ph.D. programs can be created with limited resources, given the right circumstances. If similar circumstances exist in other small universities, the rate of Ph.D. production in software engineering may be able to be increased, while maintaining quality. This paper describes the four degree programs, how they are related to each other, and how the programs have evolved. It makes limited comparisons to programs at other universities.