The Software (SW)-centered Education (SWEDU) project at Kyung Hee University (KHU) is rounding out its sixth and final year.

Ever since KHU was selected to take part in the Korean government’s SW-Focus University Development (SFUD) program back in 2017, KHU’s SWEDU project has created and operated the nation’s largest university SW education program, with Professor Cho Jin-sung of the Dept. of Computer Engineering at KHU as the project leader.

KHU’s SWEDU project is scheduled to end in December. However, the project team is preparing to apply for the national SFUD program once again. If selected, KHU’s SWEDU project will be extended for another six years.

What the SWEDU Project Has Accomplished So Far

According to Prof. Cho, KHU’s SWEDU project team has endeavored to fulfill its mission of providing basic SW education, renovating existing SW curricula, invigorating SW convergence education, and promulgating the importance of SW for the past six years.

For SW majors, the goal of the project was to provide curricula focused on recent developments in information technology and the skills and experience companies seek in their employees. To accomplish this, the project team developed new student curricula such as the STEP (Software Talent Enhancement Program) and SWING (SoftWare Industry for Next-Generation) program. The project team also created extracurricular activities and scholarships for SW majors, such as biannual programming contests, summer schools, and an honors program for exceptional students.

Providing opportunities to gain valuable experiences for SW majors was also one of the team’s main objectives. Exchange student programs and university-industry cooperation educational programs were established to provide students with the opportunity to study abroad and participate in international academic events. Various overseas education and internship programs were also opened, which sent students to prominent companies such as SPIRENT, the communications and network testing company based in Silicon Valley, and KIST Europe, the Korean high-tech Research and Development institute operating in Germany.

Another goal of the SWEDU project team was to help non-SW majors gain a basic understanding of SW. The SW basic education program was created for this end, which mandated all KHU undergraduates to complete at least two courses in a predetermined SW-related course pool.

Prof. Cho recollects it was challenging to get people to cooperate during the SW basic education program’s initial days. “The Seoul Campus student council protested that SW courses should not be mandated for students with unrelated majors. Even some of the faculty and the university administration staff were skeptical. Fortunately, people have become much more receptive since then,” he said.

The project team also created a start-up idea contest, which was titled “Start Up the Dream”. All undergraduates were allowed to participate, and participants with the best ideas were encouraged to bring them into reality. Funding and educational support was provided by the SWEDU project team. Since 2018, several start-ups were born in this way, including the company Modoc, which developed a beauty application with deep-learning technology, and Petpeotalk, which developed a program to communicate with pets remotely.

Other than that, the project team used part of the funding from the national SFUD program to improve KHU’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and SW education infrastructure. A total of six new SW laboratories were newly opened across both campuses, and an SW development studio at the College of Electronics and Information was established. The project also organized an equipment rental program. Today, students can submit application forms to borrow Laptops, GPUs, Linux servers, and tablet PCs on the KHU SWEDU project website. (http://swedu.khu.ac.kr)

Numerous online and offline educational programs for all ages and professions were also opened to the public. These included programs such as free SW educational camps for elementary schoolchildren, programming courses for middle to high schoolers, and a course for adults on how to become an instructor in SW-related fields. More than 17,800 people attended these programs from 2017 to 2021, which was more than double the targeted participant count.

Future Plans for KHU’s SWEDU Project

KHU will apply for the government SFUD program once more next March. If selected, KHU’s SWEDU project will recommence on May 1, 2023. However, Prof. Cho estimates this will not be easy because plenty of other universities will apply for the program as well. “Most application forms of other universities tend to include what they plan to do once they get selected. We will try to differentiate ourselves by including what we have already done to continue our SWEDU program in the future,” says Prof. Cho.

To that end, the project team is currently discussing ways to improve existing SWEDU programs and develop new educational programs. The KHU Micro Degree (MD) program is among these. MD programs for AI, Big Data Analytics, Robot Software, the Metaverse, and Design Software have been newly opened and will become available for students starting next semester, with more tracks planned to be added during the lifespan of the program. The MD program will issue MDs to students who attended more than three to four courses out of a select pool of courses. According to Prof. Cho, many of the courses required for a MD will be from the same course pool as the SW basic education program. “Students may find that attending just one more SW course on top of their two mandatory ones will grant them MDs,” he stated.

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) programs for all KHU students and the public are also under development. A total of four tracks in the fields of AI, Big Data Analytics, the Metaverse, and the Internet of Things, are currently under development. The SWEDU project team plans to grant participants MDs upon completing the MOOC tracks. These tracks and their accompanying 11 SW courses will be fully opened next semester.

Improvements will also be made to the existing SW basic education programs. According to Prof. Cho, one of the biggest deterrents holding back students of non-SW majors from attending certain SW courses is the competition with SW majors to achieve high grades. The project team plans on fixing this issue by adopting a separate Pass/Fail grading system for non-SW majors. This separate grading method will likewise be implemented next semester. “Naturally, the SW courses at the College of Software will be more demanding than the SW course pool of the Humanitas College. However, we will implement the Pass/Fail grading system for non-SW majors, which will hopefully take away some of the pressure,” says Prof. Cho.

Prof. Cho clarified that students from the Seoul Campus can attend SW education programs opened in Global Campus via online courses, as well. He also believes that non-SW majors will find the improved SW courses with their separate grading systems more approachable.