Foreign experience of software testing engineers training: analysis of educational standards and programs of American universities

Abstract

The article aims to explore the U.S. educational system's approach to training software testing specialists, highlighting specific features and methodologies. The study involves analyzing key standards for IT engineer training in the USA, such as the ACM/IEEE Computer Science Curricula, ABET Accreditation Criteria, ISTE Standards for Educators, and CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards, their overall context and targeting, as well as the inclusion of both fundamental and IT-specific disciplines into their content. In the study of each standard, particular emphasis was placed on defining the place and teaching methods of theory and practice of software testing in the university curriculum guidelines. As it was revealed in the analysis, despite the extremely similar interpretation of basic concepts and practices in the context of software testing, opinions about the methodology of their teaching and the need to study as a separate discipline, differ in a set of reviewed standards. Additionally, the research examines training programs at leading American universities, including MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon University, to identify how software testing and quality assurance are reflected in their curricula, covering full-time training programs for students in computer science, software engineering and similar related fields. The analysis examined programs in both general and basic disciplines in the context of information technology, and specific to a certain technological or organizational area, such as mobile device development or IT project management. The content of the subjects, the list of modules and lectures, as well as tasks for extracurricular work, available in open sources, was also analyzed and searched for topics related to quality assurance or software testing. As revealed in the study, in most technical universities testing is not covered within a separate discipline, but is taught as a part of ones related to development practices. However, some training programs, in particular the Master's level, still have disciplines, devoted exclusively to quality control, testing management and automation