Survey of undergraduate students at the Department of Software
A mass survey of undergraduate students was conducted at the Department of Software of the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic University, in which 424 respondents participated (65% of the total number of undergraduate students at the department as of the end of the 2019-2020 academic year – 652 people), of which 65.8% study in specialty 121 «Software Engineering» (bachelor’s and master’s programs «Software Engineering») and 34.2% – in specialty 122 «Computer Science» (bachelor’s educational program «Computer Science», master’s educational program «Artificial Intelligence Systems»). Distribution of respondents by form of payment for education: 59.7% – budget, 40.1% – contract. By form of study: 96.9% – full-time, 3.1% – part-time. Distribution of respondents by course: 1st year – 27.2%, 2nd year – 32.7%, 3rd year – 26%, 5th year – 14%. Previously, a mass survey of graduates of master’s degree educational programs of the department’s specialties was conducted. In the near future, it is also planned to conduct a survey of graduates of bachelor’s educational programs of the department’s specialties.
Only budget tuition is considered an acceptable form of payment for tuition for themselves – 56%, and 44% can pay for tuition under a contract (including those who wish to study only under a contract – 17.2%).
Regarding satisfaction with studying at the university, according to the results of a survey of undergraduate students, it was determined that 94.1% of students are generally satisfied with their studies (of which: completely satisfied – 46.1%, satisfied in general, but consider it necessary to strengthen theoretical training – 14.5%, satisfied in general, but consider it necessary to strengthen practical training – 33.5%). Not satisfied with their studies – 5.9% of respondents.
Regarding the attitude of the teachers of the graduate department of software tools, 97.6% of students are generally satisfied (of which: completely satisfied – 58.4%, satisfied in general with the attitude of most teachers – 39.2%). Not satisfied with the attitude of most teachers – 2.4% of respondents.
Students’ self-assessment of their English proficiency showed that 18% of students believe that they have a high level of English proficiency (level B2 and above), 56% believe that they have an average level of English proficiency, and 26% believe that they have an insufficient level of English proficiency. At the same time, 10.9% of respondents want to attend additional paid English courses.
The most important issues for students in the work of the university and the department are the organization of the educational process, the content of disciplines and the development of the material and technical base and educational and methodological support.
During the survey, students of the Department of Software were asked to provide suggestions for improving these most important elements of the work of the university and the department.
The received suggestions from students for improving the educational process at the university and the department largely boil down to:
– to develop and improve the material and technical base of the university and the department more widely (in particular, to update computer equipment and software, to provide widely available (for more than 100 users) broadband Wi-Fi Internet);
– to improve the organization of the educational process (to provide a schedule of classes without «windows», to improve interaction between students and teachers, in particular by increasing interactivity in lectures, to introduce innovative learning technologies, to use distance learning more widely, in particular for consultations, to provide students with more motivation to study by substantiating disciplines in the curriculum, linking them to the requirements of the labor market, to check the volume and justification of tasks and requirements for disciplines, to reduce the volume and complexity of tasks in non-core disciplines for the specialty, to strengthen professional orientation of first-year students by conducting campaign events, excursions to IT companies, detailing the presentation of lecture material, making it more in-depth);
– Intensify work on the content of educational programs, curricula and disciplines in accordance with global and regional labor market trends (more often update curricula, reduce the number and volume of humanitarian disciplines, replacing them with profile ones for the specialty, devote more hours to practical classes, set the exam as a form of control only for profile disciplines for the specialty, more quickly update the content of educational disciplines, paying more attention to practical components, knowledge and skills, relevant labor market requirements, make tasks more interesting for students in terms of employment, increase opportunities for studying foreign languages, add the study of basic ISO standards to the curriculum, increase the practical orientation of the content of disciplines to the needs of IT companies in the region, deepen the study of programming languages, study more frameworks and libraries, expand the study of modern technologies and tools of virtual and augmented reality, three-dimensional modeling, artificial intelligence in C++ and Python);
– ensure the student’s free choice of an individual learning trajectory, (in particular, by choosing subjects for selective study, programming languages used and frameworks for practical work within the subject);
– develop methodological support for disciplines (make methodological instructions sufficient for performing laboratory work without the need to search for additional information, reduce the volume and complexity of independent work on searching for and learning additional information, increase the number of practical examples in methodological manuals, make assignments for subjects in senior years really related to projects of partner companies, update methodological support more often);
– develop the human resources of the department by rejuvenating the teaching staff of the department, improving the qualifications of teachers and involving practicing professionals from enterprises as teachers.
These proposals indicate the urgent need for annual updating of the material and technical base, educational and methodological support, and human resources. On the part of the Department of Software, this work is carried out constantly: thanks to participation in numerous international projects of the programs «Tempus» and «Erasmus+» The European Union and the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD have provided and continue to purchase the latest computer equipment, conduct internships for department teachers at leading European universities, create and update educational and methodological materials relevant to global trends in IT development and the labor market, organize and conduct lectures by foreign teachers, submit proposals to the university management and the faculty council on improving the material and technical base and organization of the educational process, and enrich the curricula of the department’s specialty educational programs.
The volume and quality of employment of students and graduates is considered by the Department of Software as one of the most important evaluation criteria and priorities of its work. To this end, partnerships with many IT companies in the region have been established and actively supported.
At the time of the survey (end of the 2019-2020 academic year), 35.8% of non-graduate course applicants were actually employed (of which 9.3% were officially employed as full-time employees at enterprises, 8.3% were registered as individual entrepreneurs (FOPs), 18.2% were not officially employed but actually had a job (they were freelancers without registration)), and 64.2% were unemployed. At the same time, 37.3% of respondents said they needed help finding a job. At the time of the survey, 4% of respondents already had their own business (enterprise), 32.8% were going to open their own business (enterprise) after graduating from university, 14.9% needed help in resolving the issue of opening their own business, 48.4% of respondents did not plan to open their own business.
Students of the department who were officially employed other than as individual entrepreneurs indicated the following enterprises as their place of work: Computools, Freshcode, Light IT, Incode Group, Vimeo, GroupBWT, Kozak Group, OpenGeeksLab, S-PRO, SoftServe, DTEK Service, PJSC «Zaporizhstal», PJSC «Motor Sich», PJSC «Privat Bank», LLC «Fozzy-Food», Fozzy-group, LLC ZTMK, Silpo, Albedo, Alvakos, CUDEV, Drum'n'code, Estimate, Estminate, Extrums, RabotaLab, ReZet, Svitla Systems, Urich, Volta, X-Torus, Real Estate Agency «Mayak», Region-Product, LLC «Barvinok, LTD», LLC «Drimnet», LLC «OMEGA», LLC «Sribna Kraina», as well as educational institutions. The wide variety of enterprises where students of the Department of Software Tools work indicates a high demand on the labor market for specialists in the specialties of the Department of Software Tools and the opportunity for students of the Department to easily find a job in the region.
The Department of Software pays great attention to the issue of student employment. Regularly organized introductory meetings of students with representatives of IT companies, students are provided with internships at enterprises.
During their studies, career guidance events were attended: meetings with representatives of IT companies based on the Department of Software of the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University – 57.5% (including 42.2% who consider it useful), the Job Fair of the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University – 67.9% (including 31.7% who consider it useful), events outside the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University – 53.1% (including 46.7% who consider it useful). The Employment Assistance Center of the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University was visited by 70.3% (including 29.5% who consider it useful).
Of the students who underwent internships/internships at enterprises during their studies at the university, 72.2% underwent internships based on internships proposed by the student himself, and 27.8% – based on internships provided by the university. This indicates a high demand from regional enterprises for students majoring in the Department of Software, which allows students to easily find internships on their own.
In addition to the work already carried out by the Department of Software Tools to ensure sustainable employment of students, during the survey, suggestions were received from students on how to improve their employment. Most of these suggestions boil down to the need to continue the existing practice of organizing meetings with representatives of enterprises at the Department, to pay special attention to organizing special events for junior students to clarify their employment prospects in their specialty in the region and the professional requirements of employers, relevant areas of programming in which they can develop, organizing excursions to enterprises, increasing the number and scope of practices and internships at enterprises (including informal ones in the sense of the educational process), continuing to organize specialized master classes and courses from IT companies on the basis of the Department, to involve employees of firms of practicing specialists, to introduce a special employment site for students.
The Department of Software will take these suggestions into account in its work plan, paying attention to recruiting and motivating students to study through the prism of relevance to the requirements of the labor market, and will actively continue to organize master classes of IT company professionals and internships in firms.
During the survey, the students’ plans for further study and work were also clarified.
After completing their studies in the educational program, 25.5% of students of 1st-3rd year bachelor’s programs do not plan to continue their studies at all, 74.5% plan to enroll in further studies, in particular, 62.3% at the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University, 3.6% at other institutions in the Zaporizhzhia region, 13.9% at other institutions in Ukraine, and 10.3% at other foreign institutions. These data correlate with statistics of recent years regarding admission to the master’s program, when about half of the department’s bachelor’s graduates continue their studies in the master’s program.
Among students of 1-3 years who plan to continue their studies after completing the current bachelor’s program, 67% plan to enroll in the master’s program in the specialty 121 «Software Engineering», 30.5% plan to enroll in the specialty 122 «Computer Science», 22.5% are also considering admission in another specialty. At the same time, among bachelor’s graduates of the specialty 121 «Software Engineering» who plan to continue their studies in the master’s program, 91.1% will enroll in the same specialty, in the specialty «Computer Science» – 10.3%, and in other specialties – 11.2%. Among bachelor’s graduates of specialty 122 «Computer Science» who plan to continue their studies in the master’s program, 92.7% will enter the same specialty, in specialty 121 «Software Engineering» – 8%, in other specialties – 12.6%. These results indicate a conscious choice of the specialty by the majority of students when entering the university and satisfaction with studying in the chosen specialty at the Department of Software.
After completing their studies in the educational program, 85.1% of 5th-year master’s students do not plan to continue their studies at all, and the rest – 14.9% – plan to enter the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University. These results also correlate well with graduation statistics, because graduates of master’s programs, as a rule, want to work at enterprises and do not feel the need for further education.
After graduating from university, 89.9% plan to work in the specialty they studied at the university (of which 60.9% are based on interest in the specialty, and 29.0% are based on the opportunity to find a high-paying job). 10.1% of graduates do not plan to work in their specialty.
Among the respondents, 51.4% plan to work in the Zaporizhzhia region after graduation, 28.8% – in another region of Ukraine, abroad – 19.8%.
The results of the survey of undergraduate students, although quantitatively different from the results of the previously conducted survey of graduates of master’s programs, generally coincide and agree with it qualitatively, reflecting the main trends in the perception of the university, department and specialty by students, as well as the situation on the labor market and in the industry as a whole.
Based on the results of the survey, it can be concluded that students of the Department of Software Tools are mainly oriented towards further work in their specialty in the Zaporizhzhia region, consider their specialty prestigious, are satisfied with their studies at the university and the attitude towards them from the department, confirm the usefulness of the measures taken by the department aimed at student employment, and strive for further innovation and improvement of the educational process and the material and technical base of the department.
The conducted survey provided useful information for planning the further work of the Department of Software Tools. Such a practice of mass surveying students proved to be useful for obtaining both a general average picture of students’ perception of the educational process, and for assessing and taking into account the individual needs of specific students.
S.O. Subbotin
Head of the Department of Software Tools
