Chadwick, D

Dastbaz, M

English

Leeds Beckett Repository

   “E-Business and Higher Education”  An  Exercise  In Marketing  or  Fulfilling  an Academic Need?     Dastbaz, M and Chadwick, D    Information Systems and Multimedia Department University of Greenwich London UK  FOLLOWING THE MARKET  Last few years : increase in E-Business and E-Commerce courses.   Equip students to exploit new technologies and capitalise on growth in demand for skills ‘perceived’ from media attention to:  ecommerce start-ups,   burgeoning dotcom share prices,    new ‘killer applications’,    and basically all things internet.   “Two years ago the business school community around the world was in a quiet panic. Applications for MBA programmes were down for the first time since the second world war. The reason?  The internet gold rush” Adrian Barrett, Guardian newspaper, 2001   BUT fortunes of such courses closely linked to boom/bust of dot com economy and by 2001 dot com boom ended. Since then applications to computing and mathematical courses falling and for Computing and Information Systems down by 18% in 2003-2004 and  9% in 2004-05).      UCAS applications for Comp and IS : trend downwards MBA applications slightly down  then recovery Ebusiness/ecommerce courses: trend upwards  Dotcom peak SO WHAT WAS BEING OFFERED IN ACADEMIA ?   Some e-prefix courses (E-Business, E-Commerce, Etechnology) were:  re-hashes of existing courses and newly ’badged’,   innovative and significant with technological/commercial potential.    “Within this subject area (ecommerce) there is also a clear and perhaps understandable difference between the balance of the business and computing content of the course depending on which department/school were offering the course. The fact that such differentiation exists could indicate that E-Commerce as a subject area is itself diverse …”  Dastbaz & Flynn (2002)  93 different titles, some based in Computing/IT and some in Business. Students would not benefit from business and IT rivalry.   UNIV. TITLE OF PROGRAMMECOURSES WITH E-PREFIXED TITLES Westminster e-Commerce 2 Derby E-Commerce Management 5 Coventry e-Commerce 2 of which one double unit = 3 Kingston e-Commerce 4 (incl Cyber Marketing) Queen Mary eCommerce Eng. In Bus. Envent0 Birkbeck eCommerce 4 Essex eCommerce technology 3 Buckingham eCommerce 4 Greenwich eCommerce 0 Middlesex eCommerce 3 incl ‘Internet’ and ‘Cyber  South Bank eCommerce 2 APU eCommerce 5 incl ‘Internet Commerce’ THE DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR NEEDS  Clear need for a better understanding of:    what such courses need in them.  how to better links between IT and Business educators.   what such courses require for the different stakeholders:  (i) prospective students (ii) prospective employers  (iii) professional bodies (iv) academics.  Prospective Students Applications follow general employment trends as per press and media. What else can students go by? They, their parents, and school mentors, can only judge by how subject areas are publicly perceived and reported.  Employers Accepting that ecommerce/ebusiness not just flavour-of-the-month.  New ways of trading via internet here to stay - become the norm ?  According to Unilever’s director of electronic commerce, Martin Armitage, e-business affects internal processes, partners, customers and suppliers. For Unilever, e-business is just business, it pervades the whole of the organisation; it is paramount and pervasive.  Bicknel D. 2000 Computer Weekly  Professional Bodies Many identify a need for diverse skills.  Concept of the ‘hybrid manager’. Concept of general ‘bridger’ between IT and business.   ‘Bridgers don't just bridge the gap and liaise between business and IT …they're like entrepreneurs creating added value that just wouldn't be there otherwise … helping businesses understand how IT fits and supports business strategy; … helping to build business strategy with information systems embedded; Bridgers must have a wider perspective than any particular application or technology set and they need the organizational and people skills to break down barriers between IT and business and educate business about IT and IT about business.. they must have the confidence of both sides.  BCS ITNow 2005 interview, Christine Ashton co-founder  of BCS Business-IT Interface Specialist group  and Chief Information Manager British Petroleum  Academia  Unsure when new disciplines rise especially disparate subjects.   Has concerns of theoretical and research underpinnings.   May still think C.P. Snow’s  ‘Two Cultures’ still alive?  Major, L. (2001). Education: higher: Masters of what?  As universities offer increasingly flexible business courses to attract students already in work, inspectors face a growing struggle to monitor academic standards.).    So, in a nutshell, there is :  PUSH from the marketplace - students want jobs in new market niches, PUSH from employers wanting staff with wide range of skills  PUSH from professional bodies wanting professional skills. PUSH from academics wanting integrated coherent defensible subject.   E-PREFIX COURSES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH   In 2002 the UoG Information Systems department  launched first undergraduate Etechnology to meet three essential criteria:  1. it would deliver a diverse subject range as required by jobs marketplace : HOW? by reviewing advertised job vacancies in relevant media eg Computing Weekly, Computing etc. 2. subject range would be integrated to allay concerns over academic credibility : HOW? –by review from members of professional bodies eg ISACA suggested security issues and legal compliance were pertinent. 3. it would deliver professional skill-set of ‘bridging’ skills : HOW? by including exercises on consultancy, setting up own business, report writing etc.  Breakdown of course material (18 lectures). Indicative Content No of Lectures % of Total LecturesApproach Taken Business: general 2 12% Academic Business: Setting Up A Business 3 16% Professional (hands-on, practical) Management 2 12% Academic Law 3 16% Academic Technology: Encryption technology 3 16% Academic Technology: Network Security 5 28% Professional (hands-on, practical) In 2004 this course had 183 students. Largest final year course.  Student cohort extremely diverse.  Programme Name % of Cohort BSc Computing Science 9.8% BSc Computing 40.7% BSc Computing With Business (75/25) 8.2% BSc Information Systems 11.8% BSc Information Systems with Business (75/25) 5.7% BSc Business Information Technology 23.7% Others 1.5%  Findings of End-Of-Year Questionnaire Survey Question Replies   Was the proportion of business topics?  Too little: 10% About Right: 82% Too Much;  8% Was the proportion of technology topics Too little: 10% About Right: 72% Too Much: 18% Was the  proportion of law topics: Too little: 21% About Right: 79% Too Much:  0% Was the  proportion of Management topics: Too little: 8% About Right: 70% Too Much: 22%      Did you consider the law topics to be relevant and interesting? Yes: 98% No:2% No Comment: 0% Did you consider that the lectures on starting your own business were relevant and interesting to you? Yes: 91% No: 8% No Comment: 1% Overall, do you think the course met its stated aims of integrating business and technology topics, providing marketable skills, and providing useful professional skills. ? Yes: 94% No:5% No Comment: 1% Would you recommend this course to your friends? Yes: 92%    No: 8% No Comment: 0%    What initially attracted you to this course? Most comments were favourable. Answers ranged from mix of subjects, marketable skills, practical. Curiously, nobody explicitly stated that it seemed to them to be easier than the other options! What did you not like about the course? Very few comments and mainly about ‘too much technology’,   Conclusion  Large number of students, option for 70%, : so highly popular. From survey, course has met the criteria as defined above i.e. :-   breadth of subject matter meets real-world job-centred skill-sets  professional skills to meet ‘bridging’ of IT and business areas.  integration of material.  However, have we achieved third criteria of integration of different academic disciplines into coherent academically defensible subject area?  What is an academically defensible subject area? Is it something that:   is wanted by business,   has a well-defined research portfolio and brings in grants,   is worth the study because interesting in it’s own right,   is worth the study because may be of use to future generations,  students want for whatever reason,  fills otherwise empty seats in universities competing for survival?   Perhaps now, with demands of fast growing/fast changing world markets the economic imperative can force acceptance of academic subject areas that span traditional subject areas and meet market requirements.   Maybe , too, time for universities to share experience to define good practice in new areas with an interdisciplinary network linking academics active in this field with one another and with counterparts in industry and in the public sector.   References  BCS 2005: British Computer Society IT NOW 2005 Interview with Christine Ashton co-founder of BCS Business-IT Interface Specialist group and Chief Information Manager British Petroleum http://www.bcs.org/BCS/Products/publishing/itnow/OnlineArchive/may05/interview.htm (in situ 11/11/05)  Bicknell,  D The It Department of Tomorrow, Computer Weekly,  August 2000  Chadwick D, Gan D. Etechnology Student Questionnaire, 2004, University of Greenwich, UK  Dastbaz M., Flynn V., Technology Driven IT Education: Implications for the Quality of Postgraduate Courses,  South Bank University, UK,  2002  Dewey D., "C.P. Snow's Two Cultures: Hardware and Software, Discovery and Creation" MIT research scientist Dan Dewey (July 1999) http://academics.vmi.edu/gen_ed/Two_Cultures.html (in situ 10/11/05)  Guardian (Thursday September 20, 2001)  ISACA 2005: Information Systems Audit and Control Association www.isaca.org  Major, L. (2001). Education: higher: Masters of what?  As universities offer increasingly flexible business courses to attract students already in work, inspectors face a growing struggle to monitor academic standards.). Guardian (UK) Jan 2001  UCAS website 2005 ,  www.ucas.com (in situ 10/11/05)      

E-business & Higher Education: an exercise in marketing or fulfilling academic need?

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