Employability and service science: Facing the challenges via curriculum design and restructuring

Abstract

A university faces many challenges in equipping graduates with the right skills and attitudes that will make them employable. The shift from the predominantly manufacturing based industries to the service based one is a source of one such challenge. Focusing on the faculty of information science and technology, it is contended that there is a need to examine its current curriculum and methods of instruction so as to ensure that future graduates will be suitable for this new economy. In this position paper, based on the model of the T-shaped professional and drawing insights from the newly developed field of service science, management and engineering (SSME), it is proposed that a combination of approaches is undertaken in restructuring the curriculum so that future graduates from the faculty in particular, and the university in general, will be ready to face the challenges posed by the new era of services.