The Future of Human Resources Qualifications in Software Engineering - Meeting Demands from Industry and Benefiting from Educational and Technological Advances

The recent economic growth in Brazil has resulted in a strong demand for human resources qualification. Software Engineering education, in Brazil, offers qualifications at all levels: undergraduate, further education and postgraduate. However, current market demand indicates a mismatch between the academic provision and the industrial demand. To address this mismatch, it is important to take into account the large geographic distribution of Brazil and its regional inequalities. We suggest that innovative strategies in education including Distance Education, Open Education and Open Educational Resources will need to play an important role in the future of professional qualifications in Brazil. This raises opportunities and challenges that can only be addressed by a strong interdisciplinary research and political agenda. This paper discusses the scenario of the Software Engineering education in Brazil and presents research questions and political issues associated with the future of human resource qualification in this area.