Networking Education for the New Economy

Executive Summary Universities face two important challenges in educating the IT workers of tomorrow. First, aside from occasional economic downturns, the number of graduates in programs such as computer science and management information systems has been inadequate to meet worldwide industry demand. Second, teaching methods have been slow to evolve to meet the needs of students and employers in a modern knowledge society. These challenges are particularly difficult in specialized fields of IT that combine rapid technological change with growing industry demand, such as networking/telecommunications and electronic commerce. As part of an economic recovery process, organizations of all sizes typically increase their dependency on technology and electronic business transactions. Recovery means they will again be looking for qualified people to fill positions such as network managers, Web administrators, eCommerce developers, and security specialists.