Data-driven analysis, benchmarking, and coordination of European IS-curricula
Third party funded individual grant
Start date : 01.06.2022
End date : 31.05.2023
Project details
Scientific Abstract
Data-driven analysis, benchmarking, and coordination of European IS-curricula
In the past couple of years, digital technologies and information systems have become increasingly pervasive in almost every part of life and the economy. The associated implications are widespread and lead to the emergence of a variety of multifaceted phenomena, from increasing psychological strains of adolescents because of social media, to the more efficient monitoring and execution of business processes in companies, to advances in the analysis of historical texts with digital tools.
These examples already point towards a central issue that is increasingly subject of discussions in the IS research community: The extent to which these intersections of different subjects such as psychology, management studies, and humanities fall into the scope of IS or the respective other disciplines. This is mirrored in developments in (academic) education, as both IS curricula as well as curricula of other disciplines are increasingly supplemented by ‘digital’ elements and subjects.
Arguably, as a result of its inherently interdisciplinary nature, IS can pave the way with regard to finding a meaningful balance between adapting a discipline to the new realities of digitalization without sacrificing its unique characteristics and focus. Depending on institutions’ topical orientation and breadth as well as the positioning of IS within institutions (e.g., in engineering or computer science departments, business schools, or as a separate unit), different transformations of IS curricula are imaginable as a response to this challenge. Thus, the study of these transformations requires a rather broad scope.
IS research is already employing a plethora of techniques that facilitate the analysis of large, distributed bodies of (textual) data, such as text mining and natural language processing. As such, it is well-suited for the envisioned large-scale exploration of IS curricula across Europe. Thus, the proposed research project aspires to use these techniques to answer the following research questions:
How do recent trends and the increasing diffusion of information systems into a variety of disciplines affect IS curricula across Europe?
What are suitable strategies to coordinate the diffusion of best practices for the design of IS curricula across the landscape of European universities?
For several reasons, a cooperation of Prof. Iryna Zolotaryova and the Institute of Information Systems at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in this project is a fitting opportunity.
Prof. Zolotaryova has conducted extensive research on the effective design of curricula for studies in the area of IS. A special research focus of Prof. Zolotaryova in this regard has been the coordination of curricula across different countries. To this end, she has successfully conducted several Europe-wide research projects, such as, for example, the project SUCSID as part of the Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies. Several ERASMUS+ projects executed by Prof. Zolotaryova have furthermore investigated the design and evaluation of IS curricula from non-academic mass education level to master’s and PhD.
Prof. Martin Matzner, member of the Institute of Information Systems at FAU and host researcher, acts as academic head of the Service Science Competence Center at the European Research Center for Information Systems. The information systems department at Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics is also a long-time member institution of ERCIS, with Prof. Zolotaryova as main coordinator and contact person. Thus, the project team is provided with both access to a large network of institutions to collect data, but also to disseminate the research results across Europe and create tangible impact.
FAU as the host institution is also part of the European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance (EELISA) that aims for improving European higher education through Pan-European coordination and knowledge-exchange. Similarly, this creates opportunities for data collection and results dissemination.
