DO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEGREE PROGRAMS MEET THE NEEDS OF THE SECTOR?
Developments in information and communication systems affect management policies and the role of these systems in the management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether management information systems and business informatics degree programs, which train students for management of information systems and improvement of new management policies with these systems, meet the needs of the sector. The study designated mixed methods research approach. The study consisted of four phases and each phase was associated with the previous one. In the first phase, the research examined the content of required courses in four-year curriculums of Management Information Systems (MIS) and Business Informatics (BI) departments in Turkey.
Then, it presented the viewpoint of the program. In the second phase, it examined the objectives and employment opportunities of the programs and compared the results with the first phase. In the third phase, job postings on web sites were inspected and the results associated with the second phase. Lastly, a survey was sent to the managers and employees in this sector in order to receive opinions on this issue. As a result, the sector needs employees who have deep knowledge of information technologies and also have an opinion on information technology law, standards and strong communication and problem-solving skills. Therefore, the amount of technical courses should be increased in business/management weighted curriculums, on the other side, IT/technical weighted curriculums should be revised by adding social courses
Keywords: Management Information System education, content analysis, mixed methods research, universities, curriculum
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