Telecommunications Courses in Information Systems Programs

This paper reports on an investigation of how undergraduate information systems (IS) programs include telecommunications courses in their curricula. The curricula of a random sample of undergraduate IS programs were examined. The results indicate that telecommunications typically is not an area of emphasis; most IS programs require only one telecommunications course and less than half provide an additional course beyond that. The number and types of required versus elective telecommunications courses included in IS curricula are presented. The results also show that programs identified as IS majors tend to do a better job of including telecommunications courses in their curricula than programs designated as IS concentrations. Implications of the results and questions for further research are discussed.