You don’t need to reach out to the universities (if you do they are terrible slow at responding) as all the modules are published online for prospective students. Modules are the key issue in getting change at the universities:
- Modules are more based on the personal or professional interests of the senior teaching staff. They are often related in to their research area
- They don’t use standard curriculums for the modules
- To create or significantly change a module the outline + key content has to be first created then reviewed. Once approved it is marketed from the following September to the student intake in a years time. So if you got a module approved its likely to be 5 years before you see a graduate.
For my personal effort for driving change, I have only seen the change appear within the last 12. months.
I’m not saying any of this to put you off, its my experience and learning to help you avoid some of my mistakes.
Taking on sandwich students is the best way I have found to influence a university department, and at least you change educate a small group of people. I would also say the students don’t really use anything they have learn’t in a degree on a placement, and most say they learn’t more in 2 weeks with me then they did in previous 2 years at University.
Bare in mind that SDLC and programming provision are already very poor within the degrees, also the amount of people who leave the course but don’t go into the profession (50-60% rate). If you want to implement change then university might not be the best vector.
At the Apprenticeships level is entirely possible to create an approved Apprenticeship scheme and deliver it as a commercial organisation, I even know someone who has done it for Marketing. You would have to create the framework and teach it before trying to get providers or colleges to deliver it.
I personally would like to go the Apprenticeship route as a driver for change but it’s not really practical on my own.