Development of new curriculum in the area of high-performance computing (HPC) for Higher Education Institutions (HEIS)

The paper presents the findings of a European project that focused, among other, on development of tailor-made high-performance computing (HPC) education programmes for HEIs. While most advanced HPC infrastructures and knowledge are located at HEIs and research institutions, hardly any curriculum design support this technology development from the perspective of industry needs. As such, the paper investigates how to improve the awareness about the innovative potential of HPC by designing courses delivering a coherent set of competences required for the application of HPC in industry as one of the keys to successful utilisation of this HPC infrastructure is about competencies and cooperation between HEIs and industry. Unfortunately, HEIs often fail to appreciate the issues faced by real economies and lack motivation to deal with them, typically perceiving them as not academically challenging. This not only causes long-term under-utilisation of knowledge and resources but is also a missed opportunity for HEIs to increase their academic revenues and improve their general role in society. In fact, even when certain HPC capabilities exist in less developed regions, they are under-utilised, particularly in the context of business applications.

The contribution of the paper is to showcase HEIs’ ability to extend their educational and research services to a market that has so far been to a large extent neglected in a form of course syllabus. By designing HPC education programmes HEIs and industry are more aware of mutual benefits of cooperation. HPC education programmes contribute to improving European regions’ innovation capability and capacity through fostering innovation in HEIs and enterprises. This curriculum is focused on developing highly marketable HPC related educational programmes complementary to standard degree-awarding programmes and aim at better utilisation of their HPC infrastructure (hardware and staff) as well as teaching, marketing, dissemination, and adjustment of HEIs educational products, adjustable to the needs of other regions and to future demands of the HPC.