Bringing Diversity in Software Engineering Education from the Middle East and Africa

Software and software engineering touch every human in every corner of the globe, yet many parts of the world are vastly underrepresented or completely absent from participating in software engineering research, development of software applications, and the creation of software-intensive products. Various nations across the African continent and the Middle East are examples. In this chapter, we use the nations of Jordan and Ghana as exemplars to review current efforts within the region. Ghana and Jordan were selected as exemplars for several reasons. First, both Ghana in West Africa and Jordan in the heart of the Middle East are both economically stable countries that bordernations of varying economic and political unrest, making them attractive to persons in the region seeking educational and professional opportunities.