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====== Education Reference Frameworks Explained to the Unwashed Masses ======

This is an email I sent at some point to explain to a junior colleague the notion of an education reference framework which was a deliverable of a large research project proposal.

Let X be your favorite government, agency etc. X wants a reference education framework and, typically, has set aside a sizeable budget you want apply for or a certification programme you would.

**Disclaimer:** As you can imagine, if you need to be told, numbers of hours and subjects are //illustrative// [i.e. appropriately invented].

==== So What's a Reference Framework?  ====

Something like the [[https://www.acm.org/education/curricula-recommendations|ACM/IEEE recommended Curriculum for Computer Science and Engineering]]. To call yourself Computer Scientist according to the ACM/IEEE your degree program must have : 
  * 30hrs of //Operating Systems//,
  * 29hrs of //Algorithms//, 
  * 42hrs of //Computer Graphics//, 
  * ...
  * 20hrs of //KissMyAss// and 
  * 35hrs of //BendYouKnee//.

For each of those subjects the document spell out what is supposed to be done in the 20hrs of //KissMyAss// to be call that way and not //BendYouKnee//. Hours and selection of topics are objective and never depend on whoever among **The Goods & The Greats** was in that committee (Homework 1). But let's not get drawn into revolutionary thoughts.

Another exampe is the DHS effort which created knowledge areas (aka superset of courses) and said 
  * DHS: "hey do you want to that we hire you graduates as security experts no question asked?" 
  * University: "Yes." 
  * DHS: "Well, you show me that your degree programme has" .... 
     * 20hrs of //InformationAssurance//, 
     * 15hrs of //Cryptography//, 
     * 32hrs of //NetworkForensics//,
     * ... 
     * 20hrs of //NoQuestionNoLie// and 
     * 2hrs of //BendYourKnee//. 
     * (//KissMyAss// recommended elective for the government track).


==== Your Task to Save the World ====

You have to collect all reasonable areas and extend them to few pages of <del>rant</del> detailed description that extend into a document showing that 20hrs of //BendYouKnee (US)// are more or less the same as 15hrs of //KissMyHand (UK)//.

It might be that multple nations are involved in which case <del>you and some chum of yours</del>  **TheG&TheG Committe** of reknown scientists then show that 15hrs with 6hrs Lab //KissMYHand (UK)// are equal to 25hrs of //BaciaManinaTestaChina (IT)// and 2liters of //GewurzTraminerHalbTrocken (AT)//.

So we end with an "aligned educational feamework" and X is happy to recommend it, make it mandatory, whatever to all its stakeholders.

==== Potential Impact on the World if You Make a Mistake ====

You shouldn't be worried of bringing nations to racks and ruins as 

  * Academics will ignore it wholesale because the 17hrs of //SwirlYouHead// taugth by //Prof.Dr.Eng. J.H. Knowsall// chair of nation Z **TheG&TheG** Committee is not included as you didn't know it existed ("Oh My God, how can one possibly graduate without that? I mean, really...")
  * Companies will ignore it as well but will set a parallel parrot bogus test that costs a lot of money because it shows that the candidate is an entrepreneurial type and will do whatever to get the job (including answering questions wrong).

==== Impact on Your Personal Life ====

From your personal perspective, dropping few words on it helps securing a cushy academic job if the head of a degree program sitting in the interview panel has an accreditation meeting coming soon (but beware it will severely backfire if accreditation just passed).

==== Overall Conclusions ====

So said, around 99.9% of academics think this is a very serious issue improving the quality of education. Some of them even started setting up accreditation bodies (Homework 2).


==== Homeworks for the reader====

  - Prove that finding similar topics in "Software and Security Engineering" Syllabi as taught by X [LeftRight Fellow, impact award, and most cited paper ever] and by Y [UpsandDowns Fellow, with an equally  sizeable pile of impact awards and cited papers] is NP-hard. 
  - Prove by DNA sequencing that members of accreditation bodies and shopkeepers selling picks and mules to gold diggers in California belong to the same genetic pool.