Are Requirements for Graduates of Master and PhD Programs in Business and Information Systems Engineering Changing?

Excerpt

For the past 40 years, one of the hallmarks of the German academic education in Wirtschaftsinformatik (Business and Information Systems Engineering, BISE) has been the strong intake of university graduates by industry, regardless of reaching either diploma, master, or doctoral level. In the mid-1970s, the first BISE study programs were introduced at the Universities of Darmstadt, Linz, and Vienna as well as at the University of Applied Sciences Furtwangen, driven by a growing industry demand. Today more than 100 higher education institutions in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria offer BISE degrees – both on the bachelor and master level. Moreover, many PhD graduates from BISE doctoral programs pursue a professional career in industry instead of staying in academia. Consequently, balancing rigorous and relevant scientific education, a fruitful collaboration has been established in the last decades between industry and higher education institutions, both with study programs that fit the needs of the industry, and research collaborations that involve public-private partnership projects that enable an easier transition of PhD graduates into industry. …