Knowledge and Skills of IS Graduates
From IS Curriculum
Graduates of Information Systems undergraduate degree programs need a wide variety of specific skills and knowledge in order to demonstrate the high-level IS capabilities specified earlier. The high-level capabilities typically require an integration of skills and knowledge from at least two and often all three of these categories. For example, in order to determine and address information requirements, an IS graduate needs to understand and apply data management technologies, have excellent interpersonal, analytical, and problem solving skills, and have a strong command of the organizational domain for which the information requirements are specified.
The knowledge and skills that graduates in Information Systems are expected to have can be divided into three categories:
- Information Systems Specific Knowledge and Skills
- Foundational Knowledge and Skills
- Knowledge and Skills Related to Domain Fundamentals
The category "Information Systems specific knowledge and skills" includes elements that are in the core of the IS discipline. These knowledge and skills would not be part of a large variety of other types of programs, but they are specific to Information Systems. "Foundational knowledge and skills" are capabilities that are shared by many disciplines that educate knowledge professionals, including broad categories such as leadership and collaboration, communication, and analytical and critical thinking. Finally, "Domain fundamentals" covers skills and capabilities in the domain to which a specific Information Systems program integrates computing. It is general business in most IS programs at this point, but it could be a more narrow business specialty (such as finance), health care, etc.
