Role of Curriculum in Achieving Excellence

1. Role of Curriculum in Achieving Excellence Dheeraj Sanghi Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in Email: dheeraj@iitk.ac.in

2. Goal of Undergraduate Education • What should be the goal of undergraduate curriculum • Broadening of horizons • A better understanding of one area of knowledge • Becoming an expert • Useful for industry immediately after the graduation IIT Kanpur

3. Third World View of Education • Advanced technical education is expensive • Teach enough advanced topics in undergraduate itself • Bachelor’s degree should be a terminal degree even for someone who wants to be an expert IIT Kanpur

4. Alumni Feedback • When asked to name most useful courses: • Mostly non-technical courses • Humanities courses are most preferred • Even in technical courses, it is usually a specific course • Very rarely would you hear that they their strong foundation in engineering helped them in life. IIT Kanpur

5. How is Curriculum Typically Decided • A large committee is set up • Every one in the committee wants that area of their own expertise must be considered important enough to have a compulsory course in the curriculum. • That leaves you with two options: • Have very few non-technical courses • Overload the student with lots of courses every semester IIT Kanpur

6. How Many Courses • Typical US university would encourage a student to do 4 courses per semester • Most universities outside North America prefer 5 courses per semester • Exceptions would be when a university offers courses with smaller number of credits. • In terms of credits (one credit being 10 lecture hours), the range would be around 130 credits to 160 credits. • In India (and third world in general) 200 credits and more is common. IIT Kanpur

7. How Much Department-specific content • MIT requires 8-10 courses (4 credits each) • Most US universities require 10-12 courses. • Good universities outside US require 12-16 courses. • In India, 20-30 courses • Are we really producing great engineers compared to all other universities in the world. IIT Kanpur

8. Course Load • Course load must be such that the students get a chance to develop personality • Leave enough time for extra-curricular activities • Leave enough time for independent study • Treat students as adults and not as kids who don’t know what is good for them IIT Kanpur

9. Should We Follow Industry Advice • Obviously Yes • The goal of education for most students is to monetize that education in terms of a career – usually in industry • Therefore, we must listen to one of the most important stakeholder in the education process • But, Maybe No • Do campus recruiters really understand the education process • Do they even understand the industry needs on a longer-term basis IIT Kanpur

10. Two Models of Taking Industry Feedback • Ask every company what they would like us to teach • Then take the union of all that • This is what we tend to do • Or take intersection of all that • This is what we perhaps should be doing IIT Kanpur

11. Industry Needs • There are industry needs which are not articulated by recruiters • Just as an example, have students developed a project on their own keeping in view software engineering principles, good programming habits, good GUI, etc. • We focus only on needs that get articulated by recruiters • Java, .NET, ASP, and other technologies IIT Kanpur

12. How to Decide Compulsory Courses • The usual question is: • Is this an important part of Computer Science discipline • The more important question is: • Is this something that a computer scientist cannot do without • A computer scientist can easily do without knowing half of what is taught as compulsory part today in our universities and institutes • If something is important but not critical, offer it as an elective IIT Kanpur

13. What About Non-CS Courses • The focus should be on • Basic analytical skills • Science courses, particularly mathematics • Creating an engineering aptitude • Workshops, lab courses, engineering science courses (give a flavor of other engineering disciplines) • Understanding humans, society, etc. • Humanities and social science courses are absolutely critical • Broadening the horizons • A lot of electives to cater to individual interest IIT Kanpur

14. CS Courses • Very few compulsory courses • Data Structures, Algorithms, Computer Organization, Logic and discrete mathematics, Theory of computation, etc. • Add 2-4 more courses based on your strengths, and your goals, etc. • Most other courses should be electives IIT Kanpur

15. Different Programs • Everyone’s learning needs and goals are different • Electives are an important tool to create that personalized program for every student. • But we can go beyond that and have different types of degrees: • For students who want to get into academics, and research, etc., we can have BTech (Honours) with higher graduation requirements • For students who want to become an average software engineer, and then climb the management ladder, have a BTech program with slightly lesser graduation requirements • For students who want non-technical jobs, but just want knowledge in CS areas, have a BSc program with even lesser graduation requirements • A student could be admitted to an undergraduate program and allowed to graduate with any of these degrees IIT Kanpur

16. Thank You IIT Kanpur