Fellow ex-co-faculty member/staff/friend, Alan, is skeptical about the intent of having the proposed BSSE students undergo a 1-year internship in industry. He has the notion that students are expected to learn about proper software engineering from these companies.
Whilst the ideal situation hopes it to be that way, i.e. companies teaching students on how to engineer software properly, more often than not, it is not the case. What the intent of the 1-year internship is for students to learn how to be critical of the software development processes in the real-world. It is one thing to know the theories, another to apply it and still another thing to see it work in real-world scenario.
Students, although not really expected, are supposed to infuse some of what they have learned to help industry in the software engineering processes. Whilst companies may not be open to it, the fact that students know the right processes is important and even more important is for them to be able to tell the company about it.
The experience outside the confines of a controlled environment, where students are used to doing what they want, when they want it and how they want it, is important. Theories are often proven wrong in real-world scenarios because practitioners refuse to do the right thing and students need to learn this so as to avoid replicating it.
Lastly, the university cannot always guarantee that all software engineering tools are within the reach of the students. Industry may be able to help provide them with these tools during their internship. However, it is better if industry support the programme and ‘donate’ these tools to the university.
So there – if and when BSSE becomes a reality, can I count on you, Alan, to be one of our lecturers? 
