Soft Skills: What do Computing Program Syllabi Reveal About Non-Technical Expectations of Undergraduate Students?

Industry expectations of computing graduates are higher than ever. Not only are candidates required to be highly skilled in a variety of technologies, but they also need to come equipped with non-technical skills -- often called soft skills or professional skills. This puts a lot of pressure on computing programs, as educators try to integrate these requirements into already full curricula. Despite the fact that incorporating some of these skills into programs is seemingly common practice, little is known about what skills are being taught and why, outside of isolated case studies. In this research, we ask:What non-technical skills are expected of undergraduate students according to computing programs? To answer this we manually curated 278 non-technical course syllabi from 110 universities in 30 European countries. We then analysed them to identify trends and expose gaps. The most frequently identified skills are teamwork, ethics, written/oral communication, and presentation skills, while the development of one's own values, motivating others, creativity, and empathy feature least frequently. By providing a detailed analysis and an interactive website visualising this data, we hope to aid the community in reviewing which non-technical skills are taught with an aim to teaching the right skills to the right students. This work sheds new light on recent trends in what is expected of undergraduate computing students in terms of non-technical skills and identifies areas where more coverage might be needed.

ISBN:978-1-4503-6874-2

Toegankelijkheid:Open