Upper Division Skill Standards

Bellevue College, Bellevue WA

Investigators

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) programs in two-year colleges have provided personnel qualified for the IT workforce. Yet corporate hiring preferences favor those with four-year degrees in almost any field combined with IT certificates or courses at the two-year college or two-year college degrees and much experience. Present articulated degree programs emphasize business fields such as sales and personnel supervision rather than advanced standards-based technical skills. This project investigates the extent to which industrial support exists for four-year degrees in IT that are consistent with skill standards. Upper division skill standards in IT are developed to codify those technical and non-technical elements that are important in the selection, placement and promotion of IT workers. The clusters of Enterprise System Analysis and Integration, Programming, Technical Writing and Database Development and Administration are emphasized. The project also investigates best practices in the structure and use of conventional articulation models between two-year and four-year colleges and the development of a framework for offering standards-based upper division technology degrees.