Data-driven analysis, benchmarking, and coordination of European IS-curricula

(Third Party Funds Single)

Start date: 1. June 2022
End date: 31. May 2023
Funding source: Volkswagen Stiftung

Abstract:

Data-driven analysis, benchmarking, and coordination of European IS-curricula

In the pastcouple of years, digital technologies and information systems have becomeincreasingly pervasive in almost every part of life and the economy. Theassociated implications are widespread and lead to the emergence of a varietyof multifaceted phenomena, from increasing psychological strains of adolescentsbecause of social media, to the more efficient monitoring and execution ofbusiness processes in companies, to advances in the analysis of historicaltexts with digital tools.

These examplesalready point towards a central issue that is increasingly subject ofdiscussions in the IS research community: The extent to which theseintersections of different subjects such as psychology, management studies, andhumanities fall into the scope of IS or the respective other disciplines. Thisis mirrored in developments in (academic) education, as both IS curricula aswell as curricula of other disciplines are increasingly supplemented by‘digital’ elements and subjects.

Arguably, as aresult of its inherently interdisciplinary nature, IS can pave the way withregard to finding a meaningful balance between adapting a discipline to the newrealities of digitalization without sacrificing its unique characteristics andfocus. Depending on institutions’ topical orientation and breadth as well asthe positioning of IS within institutions (e.g., in engineering or computerscience departments, business schools, or as a separate unit), differenttransformations of IS curricula are imaginable as a response to this challenge.Thus, the study of these transformations requires a rather broad scope.

IS research isalready employing a plethora of techniques that facilitate the analysis oflarge, distributed bodies of (textual) data, such as text mining and naturallanguage processing. As such, it is well-suited for the envisioned large-scaleexploration of IS curricula across Europe. Thus, the proposed research projectaspires to use these techniques to answer the following research questions:

How do recenttrends and the increasing diffusion of information systems into a variety ofdisciplines affect IS curricula across Europe?

What aresuitable strategies to coordinate the diffusion of best practices for thedesign of IS curricula across the landscape of European universities?

For severalreasons, a cooperation of Prof. Iryna Zolotaryova and the Institute ofInformation Systems at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) inthis project is a fitting opportunity.

Prof.Zolotaryova has conducted extensive research on the effective design ofcurricula for studies in the area of IS. A special research focus of Prof.Zolotaryova in this regard has been the coordination of curricula acrossdifferent countries. To this end, she has successfully conducted severalEurope-wide research projects, such as, for example, the project SUCSID as partof the Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies. SeveralERASMUS+ projects executed by Prof. Zolotaryova have furthermore investigated thedesign and evaluation of IS curricula from non-academic mass education level tomaster’s and PhD.

Prof. MartinMatzner, member of the Institute of Information Systems at FAU and hostresearcher, acts as academic head of the Service Science Competence Center atthe European Research Center for Information Systems. The information systemsdepartment at Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics is also along-time member institution of ERCIS, with Prof. Zolotaryova as maincoordinator and contact person. Thus, the project team is provided with bothaccess to a large network of institutions to collect data, but also todisseminate the research results across Europe and create tangible impact.

FAU as the hostinstitution is also part of the European Engineering Learning Innovation andScience Alliance (EELISA) that aims for improving European higher educationthrough Pan-European coordination and knowledge-exchange. Similarly, thiscreates opportunities for data collection and results dissemination.