Developing Work-Ready Software Engineers using Real-world Team-based Projects as a Catalyst for Learning

The National Software Academy in Wales is a recently established collaboration between Cardiff University, Welsh Government, the Alacrity Foundation and the technology industry. The aim is to address the gap in the skills market for work ready software engineers. The Academy runs an industry focused BSc degree in Applied Software Engineering that sees local and national industry partners actively participating in the running of the program and gives students the opportunity to work on real-world team-based projects throughout their degree course. This paper reports on the first year of the program: the success and positive engagement from industry partners, the integrated style of delivery across program modules, and the challenges faced going into year 2.