The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) has recently been recognized as one of the best software engineering schools. 

UCO earned high marks for the overall excellence of its program, as well as for its affordability, according to a report on BestAccreditedColleges.org. 

Department of Computer Science Chair and Professor Gang Qian, Ph. D., said the program teaches students how to construct a software system as an engineering end product for its users. 

“Students who graduate from this program are trained to become a productive and ethical software engineer,” he said.  “They will start a solid, prosperous middle-class career and collectively make a positive impact to the state’s economy, contributing to the society overall.” 

Currently, the program has an average of 70 students enrolled. The program has an increase of students enrolled in recent years. 

UCO is Oklahoma’s only software engineering program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), which is an international organization that specializes in accrediting engineering, computing and applied science programs.   

“As predicted by the U.S. Department of Labor, the job market will need a large number of computing and software development professionals in the next ten years,” Qian said. “While a computer science degree was usually what an employer requires for a computing/software position, we found that most of our graduates worked in software development."

"Studying software engineering allows our students to fully focus on everything software-related, making them more competitive both on the job market and in their work positions.” 

The classes required for the program were designed based on ABET’s curricular requirements, which covers topics of the full life cycle of a software system, including requirement engineering and analysis, design, software construction, verification and validation, and maintenance.  The classes also cover security, ethics and project management. 

For more information about the program, people can visit UCO: Majors - Software Engineering.