Issues in Australian ICT Education

This session at the Australian Software Engineering Conference is concerned with ICT education from the holistic perspective of preparation in high schools, the university experience, transition to the workforce, and the contribution by industry, government, and professional bodies. The project to ascertain the issues and challenges facing the national ICT education sector is supported by the Carrick institute as a discipline-based initiative. Consultations to date with various stakeholders have revealed numerous concerns that include: the dispersed nature of the ICT sector; erroneous perceptions of ICT disciplines; decline in enrolments; gender imbalance; lack of industry involvement; and balancing knowledge with generic skills acquisition. This forum will involve the project team and invited participants to report on findings from consultations and research. Attendees will be invited to respond and to contribute their issues and challenges that are of particular concern to the software engineering community. The seven disciplines that comprise ICT are electrical engineering, computer engineering, telecommunications engineering, software engineering, computer science, information technology, and information systems.