6 . The information systems academic discipline in Queensland

Relative to its population, Queensland has a large number of universities, each of which is engaged in information systems (IS) teaching and research. As elsewhere, powerful external forces have wrought substantive change to the IS discipline in Queensland in recent years. The highly decentralised nature of Queensland has also had an enduring impact on the IS discipline in the state. Nonetheless, beyond several instances of adaptation to distance and decentralisation, the study reveals little evidence of a distinctive Queensland flavour of IS. Rather, there exists a diversity of curriculum approaches and an equally broad range of research foci and approaches to research. Two of the state’s regional universities are notable for the relative strength of their IS presence, in terms of the number of IS staff, the number of IS students and the range of campuses across which IS is taught. The breadth of topics and approaches to IS in Queensland is evidenced by the existence of separate, competing IS groups in two of the largest universities; in each case, one of the IS groups is highly technical in orientation while the other is business oriented. Across the nine Queensland universities there is wide variability in terms of the administrative location of IS academic staff in the university structure. The study assesses the state of IS in Queensland universities in relation to criteria indicative of the maturity of a discipline. Measured against these criteria, IS in Queensland universities cannot yet be considered a mature, distinct academic discipline. Profiles are presented of three people prominent in the development of the IS discipline in Queensland.