tute, a Beijing-based think tank, computer science, English, and law have
topped a list of majors with the most unemployed graduates for the past three
years. In 2009, the most recent year for
which data is available, computer science was second only to English in the
number of unemployed graduates.
Here, too, the figures underlie a more
complicated picture. Thanks to governmental encouragement, the number of
university graduates in China has risen
dramatically during the past 10 years.
In 2008, more than six million students
graduated nationwide; in 2002, the
total number was below 1. 5 million.
Such increases, education experts contend, were not matched with employment prospects, particularly in technical fields, where market needs are
highly specialized. Therefore, students
must work hard to distinguish themselves from a glut of applicants. Often,
that means earning a graduate degree.
“Companies get a lot of applicants, and
to make it easier, some use the degree
as a filter,” says Xiaoge Wang, an associate professor in the department of
computer science and technology at
Tsinghua University. At Tsinghua, 83%
of 2009’s computer science graduates
enrolled in graduate programs at home
or abroad, up from 78% in 2008 and 66%
in 2007. “Our students would like to go
to companies like Microsoft or IBM,
which require a Ph.D. or a master’s,”
says Wang.
In India, the IT industry is doing
well after a slowdown brought on by
the global downturn. According to
one concern in india
is the growing lack
of educators to teach
the next generation
of software
engineers—a
shortage of up to
70,000 teachers,
according to some
estimates.
the country’s National Association of
Software and Services Companies, the
IT services sector, still the dominant
source of computing jobs, grew nearly
16.5% in 2009, and software exports are
expected to increase by 14.4% in the current fiscal year. Job placements at the
country’s top engineering schools are
robust, with many students receiving
multiple offers upon graduation. One
concern, however, is the growing lack
of educators to teach the next generation of software engineers—a shortage
of up to 70,000 teachers, according to
some estimates. University pay scales
are low compared to the private sector,
and few students pursue the advanced
degrees that would qualify them for university positions. As a report published
in the International Journal of Engineering Studies explained, “The teaching
load of professors in the top research-intensive schools has increased, and
talented potential research students
are being attracted by high-paying pri-vate-sector jobs, or by research opportunities at better-funded institutions
abroad.” Those students who do pursue advanced degrees, according to the
study’s authors, often do so to improve
their market value in the job market.
Further Reading
National Association of Software
and Services Companies
The IT-BPO Sector in India: Strategic
Review 2009, http://www.nasscom.
in/nasscom/templates/normalPage.
aspx?id=55816.
Solanki, K., Dalal, S., and Bharti, V.
Software engineering education and
research in India: a survey, International
Journal of Engineering Studies 1, 3, 2009.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11
edition, http://www.bls.gov/oco/.
Universities & Colleges Admissions Service
Unistats From Universities and Colleges
in the U.K., http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/
retrieveColleges_en.do.
Zhang, M. and Virginia M.L.
Undergraduate computer science
education in China, Proceedings of the 41st
ACM Technical Symposium on Computer
Science Education, March 10–13, 2010,
Milwaukee, WI.
Leah hoffmann is a Brooklyn, ny-based technology
writer.
© 2010 acm 0001-0782/10/1100 $10.00
Milestones
David Kuck Wins Ken Kennedy Award
David Kuck, an Intel Fellow,
is the recipient of the second
annual aCM-Ieee Computer
Society Ken Kennedy award for
his four decades of contributions
to compiler technology and
parallel computing, which have
improved the cost-effectiveness of
multiprocessor computing.
In an email interview, Kuck
discussed his current research.
“I’m working on hardware/
software codesign at a very
comprehensive level, considering
system cost, performance, and
operating cost (in terms of
energy), as well as applications
sensitivity. I’m working on theory
and tools to support codesign.
I introduced a computational
capacity model in the 1970s
and pushed it much further in
the past few years. Measured
bandwidth and capacity
(bandwidth used) for a set of
architectural nodes for each
phase in a computation provide
capacity ratios that are invariant
across hardware changes. This
leads to very fast simulations of
new machines, solving linear
programming and related
problems to satisfy design goals.”
must be made, so a pre-analyzed
repository would allow phases,
and sequences of them, to be
matched to codelets for optimal
compilation. This is a combined
static and dynamic approach to
compilation.”
The Ken Kennedy award
recognizes substantial
contributions to programmability
and productivity in computing and
substantial community service
or mentoring contributions, and
includes a $5,000 honorarium.
asked about the next
important innovation with
compilers, Kuck said, “Compiler
optimization transformations
are well developed, but where
and how to apply them is still a
mystery. I believe that building
a large repository of codelets
could remove much of the
mystery related to sequential,
vector, parallel, and energy-aware
compilation. Many trade-offs
