James Joseph Whitney Sr.
September 15, 2009
Genevieve D. Carlos
September 17, 2009
IBM has partnered with Nicholls State University to develop a modernized computer science curriculum that is designed to address information technology service needs in all industries across the nation.
“With the governments around the world investing in intelligent local and state infrastructures to improve economic, societal and environmental conditions,” IBM Global spokeswoman Leigh Ann Schmidt said in a release, “comes the need to develop a workforce with the skills required to do the jobs in the emerging fields.”
Some of those emerging job fields are electronic medical records, intelligent transportation systems and smart energy grids.
Schmidt said that statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor show that 4.6 million jobs will be created in the service sector between 2004 and 2014, and IT will continue to be one of the fastest growing sectors.
IBM is working with hundreds of universities with its Academic Initiative. This fall, Nicholls’ computer information system program revamped its curricula to give students the skills required for the emerging information technology professions.
“This is another example of the college’s attempt to maintain and update all its business programs,” said Dr. Shawn Mauldin, dean of the College of Business Administration. “All of the business students will benefit from this partnership.”
The updated courses are designed to teach students how to integrate IT, operations and business infrastructures to deliver new products and services to customers, Schmidt explained.
“Because the lines of IT and business operations are blurring,” he said. “MBA and eMBA students will also be offered these courses to better prepare them for the challenges they will be faced with in their careers.”
This fall, Nicholls introduced its new and improved courses to the students. The selection covers integrated product management, system analysis and design, information resource management and IT service management.
“Our hope is to give the students the leading edge of information technology while they are in school because it is constantly changing,” Mauldin said. “It’s kind of like a fluid process. We just got to make sure that whatever the businesses are demanding that we are providing some type of exposure in our courses.”
“What happens is not a computer science curricula, it’s business curricula,” he added.
The four new courses, which are similar to a practicum where students do on-the-job training, focus on IT service management. Mauldin said the courses involved four consecutive semesters of practicum work.
Collaborating with IBM has also enabled Nicholls to restructure its computer information systems program to adhere to the IS 2002 Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Program in Information Systems.
The Association of Computing Machinery, the Association for Information Systems and the Association of Information Technology Professionals spearheaded the program.
“Nicholls is committed to building tomorrow’s experts in IT today,” said Nicholls instructor Dr. Neset Hikmet in a release. “Working with IBM to incorporate IT Service Management principles helps to prepare our students to help organizations use technology to intelligently respond to their global trends and disruptions affecting businesses, while also achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.”
The courses will be offered as an elective to MBA and eMBA students who want to specialize in IT services management and receive an accompanying certificate. Mauldin said the IT service management certificate will soon be offered online for those who meet the specific requirements.
In the meantime, Nicholls is also looking at a similar relationship with Microsoft, Mauldin announced.
Nicholls State University has partnered with IBM Global to offer its College of Business students modernize computer information system courses for the emerging Information Technology profession. * Photo courtesy of NICHOLLS STATE
