Government Technology

IT Offshore Outsourcing Takes a Toll on University IT Enrollment


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March 27, 2008 By

In recent years, there has been an increase in information system-related jobs outsourced to overseas countries. Knowledge of this trend in the business world has resulted in many students questioning their likelihood of post-graduate career success in the field of information technology.

The newly released issue of the Journal of Information Technology Research features articles by international experts in the fields of outsourcing and the IS curriculum. The article titled "Information Systems, Offshore Outsourcing, and Relevancy in the Business School Curriculum" -- authored by William J. Tastle, University of Iceland and Ithaca College, USA, Bruce A. White, Quinnipiac University, USA, Ársæll Valfells, University of Iceland, Iceland, and Peter Shackleton, Victoria University, Australia ­addresses future prospects for the field information technology within a university environment.

"The long-term future for IS education seems bleak at best unless the IS curriculum is reoriented to address these critical issues that are also apparently neglected by some businesses, and our instruction is modified to make IS graduates more appealing and productive to business," the authors write. "Outsourcing of IT functions is not a new reality for many organizations in the United States. However, what originated as a domestic approach to business management has increasingly been refocused to explore the cost savings in outsourcing overseas.

"Certainly, there will always be a set of small- to medium-sized companies that cannot or will not engage in offshoring, and those companies will require graduates with the current skill set," write the authors. "But even in companies that do not use offshoring, the softer skills of contract law, contract management and negotiation will grow with the increasing complexity of information systems. Even small- and medium-sized enterprises will be contracting for services and purchasing software package solutions."

 


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