ERP Education: Hosting, Visiting, and Certifying

Abstract

In recent times, there have been discussions by computing professionals about how to best respond to developments in the information technology and communications industry. At the same time, there has been a downturn in employment opportunities in this industry (ICT Skills Snapshot, 2004). Recent research also indicates that many of the entry-level positions that graduates traditionally entered have diminished due to the economic downturn and to companies outsourcing positions to off shore companies. This chapter presents the path that the Victoria University (Australia) school of Information Systems took in introducing multiple programs in an endeavour to compliment traditional course delivery and to better connect a University School with ICT industry requirements. The programs included the use of SAP hosting centres for access to ERP systems, conducting an ERP visiting expert teaching delivery model for SAP content and multiple SAP certi?cation programs. The re-sults of these programs as described in this paper show that ?exibility in delivery mode and effective merging of ERP curriculum and ERP certi?cation content is crucial to achieving successful programs.