Does E-government Education Meet Competency Requirements? An Analysis of the German University System from International Perspective

Necessary competencies in the context of e-government and the lack thereof have received some academic attention in the last years. Questions remain, whether study programs for public administration pick up the topic, how it is conceptualized and taught in order to develop e-government competencies. This article analyzes which fundamental conceptualizations of e-government underlie study programs for public administration in Germany and which e-government- and IT-related topics are taught. Against the background of two international study programs in e-government, the article discloses a parallelism of IT-related and non-IT-related topics within study programs, a technical bias in e-government programs, and outlines essentials for e-government education.