Increasing the Quality and Quantity of Tertiary-Level Information Systems Students: A Graduate Development Framework

Abstract

This article forms part of research-in-progress aimed toward creating a comprehensive graduate development framework that will assist Information Systems (IS) departments in increasing the quality and quantity of their enrollments and graduates. In this article, we present the IS Graduate Development Framework (ISGDF). This framework combines concepts from four related fields of IS study into a single framework for identifying the graduate development potential of IS institutions, courses, and development projects. These four fields of study are: (i) Information and Communication Technology for Development, (ii) economic labor market theory that relates to IS labor, (iii) a study of IS education concepts and course structures, and (iv) a study of IS labor within the creative industries. We present the ISGDF based on literature from these fields of study and show how this framework can be applied by means of a comprehensive case study example. The case study gives a detailed account of how the framework was used to identify, and improve, the graduate development potential of an IS graduate development project. Findings from the case study include several areas for possible improvement of IS curricula to increase the graduate development potential of IS departments. Although the case study was conducted in a South African context, we suggest that the ISGDF, and case study findings report in this article, can be useful for informing IS departments toward increasing graduate quality and quantity in their own contexts.

Keywords:

• IS education
• ICT4D
• ICT labor
• human capital
• mobile application development
• graduate development framework

Acknowledgement

The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and the Department of Communication, via the e-Skills Institute, are acknowledged for financial support for this project.

Notes on contributors

Johan Breytenbach completed his B.Com degree in Mathematics at the University of Stellenbosch in 2004. In 2009 Johan received his M.Com degree in Computer Science and Informatics (cum laude) from the University of the Free State. Johan completed his PhD in Informatics at the University of Pretoria in 2013, under the supervision of Prof. Carina de Villiers and Dr. Martina Jordaan. Since 2012 Johan has lectured Information Systems and works as an industry consultant and programmer in Cape Town, South Africa. Johan's research interests include mobile application development, Internet technologies, new media technologies, gamification, technology used for development in Africa, and the implementation of knowledge economy concepts in Africa, with particular focus on ICT labour markets that influence mobile and creative industry sectors.

Carina de Villiers is currently full professor and was Head of the Department of Informatics from 2000 until 2011 at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa. She obtained a BSc(Computer Science and Mathematics), Higher Education Diploma, Diploma in Tertiary Education, MEd (Didactics) cum laude, Honours degree in Computer Science and a PhD(Informatics) degree. She started her career in 1979 as a junior lecturer at the University of South Africa and joined the University of Pretoria as an associate professor in 1996. She also served as Chairperson of the School of Information Technology, consisting of three departments, from 2002 to 2005. She is a member of several international bodies and serves on a number of editorial and advisory boards for journals, including IT for Development and AIS Transactions for HCI. She has held a National Research Foundation rating as an established IS researcher since 2000.