Universities failed to teach foundation of computer science to students

Yasser Bashir, founder and CEO of Arbisoft (Pvt.) Ltd said that Universities are focused on everything except teaching the foundation of computer science.

“If somebody didn’t learn the foundation of computer science in a four-year degree programme, they’re unlikely to do well in writing software,” Yasser added.

Arbisoft organised a nationwide exam simultaneously to hire top-of-the-shelf fresh graduates from all universities that teach computer science in Pakistan.

In 2023 alone, 7,000 fresh graduates from 144 universities registered for the test. After a basic screening process, about 4,000 people took at the same time the 19-minute test that had 30 questions.

The goal is to test their understanding of the computational problems in computer science,” Yasser said, adding that the questions test the candidates’ understanding of algorithms, programming, data structures, databases, operating systems and discreet math besides assessing their general mental ability.

Arbisoft “struggles” to find even 10 per cent students — from a pool of about 4,000 test-taking computer science graduates a year — who score even 70pc marks.Due to a high number of enrollments in Computer science departments every year the industry has an over-supply and over-demand problem.

In May 2023 , The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its half-year report raised concerns over Pakistan’s information technology (IT) sector, revealing that a mere 10 % of IT graduates possess the necessary skills to secure employment in the industry.