Software engineering in the commercial sector present and future: A United Kingdom perspective

The discipline of software engineering promotes the use of systematic methods, automated tools and quality assurance procedures within software development. In this paper we place these practices within the UK context. We report the results from various surveys and research investigations which we have undertaken relating to the acceptance of these practices within the UK. From these results we are able to draw conclusions regarding the current and future levels of use across the sector and we identify the major problems which are constraining progress. We also outline the role, which we believe that educational institutions must undertake, for there to be a significant long term improvement and we report the approaches that are currently being adopted within courses at our own institution. It is our aim that this paper should not simply report facts and draw conclusions but that it should: encourage reflection, provoke discussion and stimulate initiatives within both industry and educational institutions