Evaluating the Extent of Application of Software Engineering Concepts in Graduation Projects: A Case Study

Despite the efforts to narrow the gap between software engineering learning and the need for practice in the software industry, beginners often find it difficult to match their academic skills with professional life practices. Therefore, there is an urgent need to know the best ways to provide students with the practical experiences they need to build professional competencies in the field of software engineering. This research aims to evaluate the extent to which students can employ software engineering concepts and apply them to their graduation projects. Besides, this study seeks to shed light on the methods used in teaching software engineering courses at the Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Benghazi, to improve them. To achieve this goal, we conducted a study spanning two semesters. The study includes a questionnaire to collect the answers of 74 university students studying in their final semester in the Software Engineering Department and working on their graduation project. We analyzed the results with responses from 30 students. The results show that students have some necessary skills that prepare them for future work in software engineering. The results also showed that there is a gap among students between the concepts they received and their practical application in their graduation projects. Some guidelines are presented that may contribute to improving the educational environment for teaching software engineering.