Looking For Motivation. How to Keep Students’ Software Projects from Ending up on the Shelf?

IT specialists in the business environment work in teams according to the established methodology and using the established toolkit. From the university's point of view, preparing IT students to work in such an environment is a challenging task, as it requires either cooperation with business or the simulation of similar conditions in the university environment. Participation of students in real projects can provide them with the necessary practical skills. The aim of this paper is to present the experience gained in running real-life, long-term projects in academia, and to provide guidelines on how to involve students in running these projects to the benefit of students.