Towards a modern computer architecture curriculum

The authors describe how an EU-USA grant has been awarded to a consortium of six universities to exchange students across the Atlantic and to facilitate the mutual accreditation of degrees between US and EU members of the consortium. One of the goals is to develop courses in three areas that could be taught and mutually recognized by all partners. "Computer Architecture" is one of the areas selected for investigated by the consortium. This subject is widely taught in many universities, although both the level and the specific contents vary from institution to institution. The consortium has looked at the computer architecture curriculum suggested by the joint ACM and IEEE Computer Society CC-91 report, and typical courses in universities in both Europe and the USA.