The perception of the role of IS in an emerging country: The case of Botswana

This exploratory study examined the perceptions of employers and employees of the IS industry in Botswana regarding the role of the educational offering as it pertains to the skills demand in the local job market. Using secondary data from an IS graduate tracer study, organisational survey and literature on national and international programme offerings, a comparative analysis of the perceptions of the role of IS was undertaken. The findings show that there exists a misalignment between the educational offering and the local IS industry needs. Also, there is a lack of clear distinctions between computing disciplines. The result is that both the employers and employees perceive computing disciplines (IT/CS/IS) to be one and the same thing and in so doing missing out on the benefits of distinctive and specialized training of the three categories of computing practitioners. It is recommended that future research is carried out to ascertain the peculiarities of the local IS industry.