Teaching Software Engineering Subjects Using a Practical Oriented Approach at the University of Mumbai

Abstract

The University of Mumbai is one of the oldest and renowned universities in India, catering to nearly 20,000 students in the Computer Engineering and Information Technology Engineering disciplines. This translates to approximately 12,000 qraduates entering the software industry. The structure of the coursework related to Software Engineering subjects - Software Engineering, Software Testing and Quality Assurance, Sofware Project Management and Software Architectures - relies heavily on theoretical classroom teaching. In this paper, we suggest changes to the structure of the coursework by shifting the focus to a project-oriented system, that will give the students a real-world-like experience of the Software Engineering subjects. Graduates with a higher level of practical experience of Software Engineering subjects is a win-win situation for everyone concerned, the software industry, the research institutes, and the students themselves.