First Empirical Look at University Courses Teaching AI-Assisted Software Engineering: 23 Syllabi Analyzed

arXiv 2608.05898·low signalXBlueskyLinkedInCopy link

A study submitted 2026-08-06 (2608.05898) qualitatively codes 23 publicly available syllabi and course materials from upper-division, credit-bearing courses that explicitly address generative AI in software engineering, characterizing their learning objectives, assessments, topics, and the AI tools they document. It is the first systematic evidence of how this curricular area is being defined rather than speculation about it, surfacing both commonalities and divergences across programs. The sample size is the honest caveat — 23 courses is a snapshot of a category that barely existed two years ago, and the paper positions itself as a baseline for future curriculum design rather than a prescription.