For many students, the transition from study to the workplace is where theory meets reality. It can also be where knowledge gaps quickly appear.
That's why study programmes at AUT need to align with current industry needs and support students in real-world learning.
With the help of Datacom, AUT students in their final year of the Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences (BCIS) are taking on major projects using genuine data and analytics and quality assurance (QA) challenges.
“This builds graduates’ practical capability, problem-solving skills and professional readiness improving the relevance of study and creating smoother pathways into meaningful careers,” says Professor Tek Tjing Lie, Head of AUT’s School of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences.
Datacom Associate Director of Data and AI, Mike Farrell says that by partnering with AUT, Datacom is helping to further reduce the gap between study and industry,, and enabling the next generation of tech talent to prepare for real-world challenges.
"Datacom is thrilled to help bring real industry problems into the classroom – and to remain involved throughout the journey,” says Farrell.
AUT Senior Lecturer Jim Buchan says having BCIS students working alongside Datacom team members was a quintessential example of a win-win partnership.
“Datacom not only provided a realistic and cool problem and context for students to apply their learning to, the company also encouraged learning from mistakes and continuously improving as a team, in a safe and welcoming environment.”
Mike Farrell says the Datacom team decided that if they were going to put project ideas forward, they needed to support students along the way, as they worked through their projects and tried to solve the challenges we had set them.
That support took the form of weekly or fortnightly sessions, helping students:
Refine the scope of their projects
Balance ambition with what’s achievable
Understand real-world delivery constraints
Build practical skills across data, QA and AI.
Over time, that consistent engagement became one of the defining features of the programme.
“We continued to support them and provide that professional guidance through the project,” Farrell said.
AUT student Muhammed Eisa said the project was the most demanding and the most formative experience of his degree.
"It placed me in a genuinely professional context, with a real client, real technical problems, real deadlines and real consequences for the quality of the work. It did not simulate professional practice – it provided it."
For the data and analytics project, the Datacom team gave the students a project task that was critical to the wider challenge of modernising legacy systems: how to shift data from Microsoft Access databases to modern cloud-based data platforms.
Students explored how to:
separate data storage from presentation layers
migrate legacy data into platforms like Snowflake
build applications on top of modern data environments.
Farrell said the students developed excellent work though their projects.
“It hasn’t produced a complete solution, but it is a practical starting point for real-world application and iteration. It is a base that our team can now look at – or it could be something for the next cohort to build on.”
Student Sophia Choi said the Datacom projects drove home the realities of real-world industry projects, compared to academic examples.
"The decisions are messier, the requirements shift, the tools do not always work the way the documentation says they will, and the people involved have competing priorities. It is just what building real software looks like."
On the quality assurance side, students were asked to explore an area that is frequently under-emphasised in software delivery: accessibility.
“Accessibility testing is one thing that’s really been omitted over the years,” says Farrell.
The project focused on how to:
interpret national and international accessibility standards
turn those standards into practical test cases
use AI-driven approaches to validate websites at scale.
Students developed a framework that could assess websites against accessibility criteria and generate structured reports on compliance.
“Again, this project is addressing a real-world problem. Accessibility is an important issue that often gets forgotten about,” says Farrell.
The work from the students is now being used to feed back into Datacom’s own thinking, helping shape how accessibility testing could evolve within modern QA practices.
The growing importance of AI, data platforms and modern testing practices means the skills the students have learned through these projects will serve them well as they start working in roles in the tech sector.
“These projects reflect the work and the challenges that are really important right now,” says Farrell.
For Datacom, the partnership is also about understanding the next generation of technologists and how they think.
“This generation has some good understanding of AI and how it can be used,” Farrell says. “These are AI natives, and that’s what we need in our business.”
While the technical outcomes were valuable, it was the human element of the programme that stood out most.
Students gained confidence, exposure to real-world expectations and a deeper understanding of how technology is applied in practice.
AUT student Thuan Nguyen said the projects were a good reminder that software engineering is rarely just about sitting and coding.
“It is fundamentally about solving people's problems. To do that, you must know exactly what the problem is and stick to it," Thuan said.
Farrell said even small amounts of time spent with the students made a difference.
“I was really humbled by how thankful they were for 30 minutes of our time in these check-in sessions.”
For Datacom, it offered insight into emerging talent and fresh perspectives on industry challenges.
Following the success of this year’s programme, Datacom and AUT are already working on defining the next set of projects and are continuing to build a pipeline of real-world learning opportunities.
The collaboration between AUT and Datacom is happening in one of the most critical and fast-developing areas of technology – looking at opportunities to harness real-world data and AI and use them to solve big challenges and uncover valuable insights. Discover how Datacom helps organisations unlock the value of their data through modern data platforms, advanced analytics, AI and process optimisation.
