Building Software Engineering Capacity through a University Open Source Program Office

TL;DR

The paper addresses the gap between traditional classroom software engineering education and real-world practice by presenting an innovative university-based Open Source Program Office (OSPO) model, OSS-main at Saint Louis University. It describes a near-peer mentorship structure, a three-group workflow (clients, staff, developers), and a two-semester capstone with sprint-based, trunk-based development that produces tangible open source projects. The authors document direct costs, sustainability strategies (grant funding, industry sponsorship, and a graduate course to train tech leads), and a growing portfolio of 15 active projects that span research support and community impact. The work demonstrates how open source collaboration at the university level can enhance student employability, enable research tooling, and deliver societal benefits, with scalable pathways for funding and expansion through partnerships and academic program design.

Abstract

This work introduces an innovative program for training the next generation of software engineers within university settings, addressing the limitations of traditional software engineering courses. Initial program costs were significant, totaling $551,420 in direct expenditures to pay for program staff salaries and benefits over two years. We present a strategy for reducing overall costs and establishing sustainable funding sources to perpetuate the program, which has yielded educational, research, professional, and societal benefits.