An Analysis of IS Majors in Top
Ranked Schools
Alex Lopes
IT Leadership Conference 2013
Starting point: IS 2010 Curriculum Guidelines
Topi et al., 2010
* Notice that Application Development is not part of the recommended curriculum,
Although a “strong case” can be made for its inclusion
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Bell et at. examined how widespread the 2010
curriculum has been adopted
 Comprehensive study of 127 majors through survey and
follow up questions
Bell et al., 2013, CAIS 32(1), Article 2
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Our internal project was different, looking into the
programs of “peer” institutions
 Focus on top-25”ish” US News and BusinessWeek
undergrad programs
 Plus a couple of “wild cards” for a total of 35 programs
 Analyze individual syllabus, course descriptions,
template curricula, etc.
 Some students need a major to find information about majors
 General observations
 10 schools in the sample do not have IS majors, dropping the
effective sample to 25
• In the “top” 17 only 8 schools have “pure” IS majors
 The higher in the ranking a school is, the more “exotic” the major
becomes
 Out of the 25 “top” majors, only 12 reside in an “IS department”
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Yes, we have seven recommended courses but in
reality, only four are commonly found in top schools
Foundations
Data and Info Management
• Taught in a variety of ways
• Mostly required to all majors, but
some specific for IS
• Usually (but not always) basic
computing skills are separated from
the main foundations course
• Very common course, found in the
vast majority of programs as standalone
System Analysis & Design
IT infrastructure
• Almost as common as database as a
required course
• In several cases, preceded by
databases as an explicit pre-req (or
at least a co-req)
• Focus on SDLC
• In most cases, this means data
communications and networks
• There is somewhat of a drop from
databases and SAD to IT
infrastructure in terms of being
required
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The other required piece is, thankfully,
programming
 The name of the courses rarely indicate “coding” but they
can be found in the vast majority of programs
 Some schools have multiple programming requirements
 Some interesting ideas
 Working with CS(E) to deliver programming courses or allow
CS(E) courses to count as required
 Allowing experienced coders to bypass basic programming
requirements
 Embedded programming in courses with other objectives
• For example, VBA to work with data analytics
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Now for the missing components
Enterprise Architecture
IS Project Management
• Rarely taught in a way that is
relatable to certifications like TOGAF,
etc.
• When majors include some sort of
enterprise content, that usually
means ERP
• Rarely taught as stand-alone course
• In several cases, a project
management course from other area
is used
• Some aspects of it taught as part of
the SDLC
IS Strategy, Management &
Acquisition
Capstone
• Rarely taught as stand-alone course
but related content may be
embedded in either foundations
courses or electives (e-commerce
strategy, social media strategy)
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• A very small number of majors seem
to use IS capstone courses
• The few majors that have it employ
either comprehensive internal
projects or consulting engagements
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Which electives do IS majors in top schools tend to
include?
 Most schools seem to include electives that match the
preferences of the faculty teaching there but it is also
possible to find some clusters
E-commerce/Ebusiness
Security
IS majors tend to “own”
security as a specialization
outright
Analytics
Significant variation in
terms of departments
offering courses in the
area
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IS majors tend to “own”
this area outright
Social
Media
Analytics
Social Media
Some variation in terms of
departments offering
courses in the area
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