Bachelor of Computer Engineering-A Case Study on Employers’ Perception in Botswana

Engineering plays a vital role in a Nation’s growth and only a good engineering education can produce good engineers. The true importance of engineering could be measured through its dynamic nature to meet the demands and address the challenges of the constantly changing world. It is imperative to state that Engineering Education in Botswana be designed, developed, delivered and constantly reviewed to produce graduates who can tackle real time challenges and thus contribute towards the Nation’s development with a positive societal impact. At Botho University, the degree programme (Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering) was initiated due to enormous demand from the industry for IT specialists and computer engineers. Accordingly, the main objective of the programme was set as producing quality graduates to meet the industry requirements. The curriculum was designed considering IEEE/ACM guidelines matching any benchmark. This paper analyses different factors that influence the demand of Computer Engineering programmes offered in Botswana from the perception of potential employers. The study is performed by using questionnaires collected from various and by conducting interviews with the relevant industry personnel. It is found that the employers feel that these programmes have good demand and the study also highlights the recommendation towards achieving an effective computer engineering programme. The findings present in this paper is anticipated to motivate the curriculum developers in preparing and reviewing engineering programmes that are relevant to Botswana.