Software institutes are in the limelight in this year’s university reform. Thirty-five universities including famous Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan and Shanghai Jiaotong universities and 16 institutions such as graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have set up software institutes in a short time, but, contrary to expectations, these institutes have not been able to attract enough students.
“We planned to enroll 150 students, but only 140 students applied for admission and we finally enrolled 97 students,” said Zhuang Yueting, vice director of the Software Institute under Zhejiang University.
The cold reception was also apparent at other software institutes. But what caused it – unqualified teachers or enrolment requirements being too strict?
Zhuang said his institute had a huge teaching force in computer subjects, and students could learn practical applications of the knowledge they gained. The teachers include famous professors from domestic and overseas universities and senior technicians and managers in IT companies. The institute also cooperates with enterprises to supply a practice base for students. BEA Company, a global advanced basic construction application software provider, offers the most advanced software, training materials, technological solutions and practice bases. And Microsoft, IBM, SUN and other famous companies also provide teaching and experimental equipment and software.
“The graduates of software institutes are expected to work quickly, while computer graduates need some time to gradually meet the work requirement,” He Qinming, also vice director of the Zhejiang University software institute, said in pointing out the difference between students in the two majors.
He said students in the computer department study much theoretical knowledge, interspersed with practical work, while most software institutes are set up by universities and companies together and aim to cultivate workers for software companies. Their students even study software companies’ products as a part of lessons and have a year of practice so as to be able to adapt immediately.
However, some students have different points of view. Computer students are all majors in science, while software students are transferred from other departments in second grade and some of them lack basic science knowledge. Moreover, the transfer fee of 16,000 yuan (US$1,930) is considered too high.
Of prime importance is the search for a job after graduation. On average, 20 software companies fight for each computer graduate of Zhejiang University, while every software company in Zhejiang Province has over one-third of their employees who have graduated from Zhejiang University’s computer department. If these workers are asked to choose new colleagues, they will obviously prefer computer rather than software students.
The software institute is a new thing and needs time to be accepted. A leading executive with the BEA company said the graduates of a software institute have practical skills which companies need. He added that the company would continue to support software institutes, as talent is crucial for corporate success.
China is short of software workers in both number and construction. China has 250,000 software workers at present and needs 700,000 more. Compared to India, most Chinese software workers are educated by universities and work as software engineers, and there is a lack of high-level managers and basic programmers.
(china.org.cn by Feng Yikun, July 24, 2002)
