Skills frameworks for industry and IT education alignment: A pilot study

Technology solutions, Information Technology (IT) in particular have transformed the ways in which various industries operate. The use of technology has enabled organizations to develop more effective approaches to design, develop and provide products and services. This has resulted in increasing dependence of organizations on IT solutions which has in turn created a need for availability of skilled IT personnel for effective operational continuity within organizations. Universities and other forms of tertiary institutions play a key role in developing skilled IT personnel. They adopt various industry-education aligning approaches to designing and developing IT educational programs. There seems to be a consensus that skills development strategies and educational programs must ensure consideration of realistic and relevant needs for IT skills. Internationally recognized skills frameworks are one of the strategic approaches for industry-education alignment. A pilot study examined feasibility of aligning learning outcomes of a portfolio of courses with skills identified in Skills Framework for Information Age (SFIA). The study indicated that overall mapping of existing technology education courses/programs to SFIA is feasible. At the same time, the study highlighted a number of key requirements for ensuring that the mapping exercise if effective.