By Natasha Lomas, 24 July 2008 17:14
NEWS
The first students to take a university degree in Information Technology Management for Business (ITMB) have completed their studies, with a high proportion of the graduates achieving First Class honours.
The BSc ITMB degree, which was designed by universities and employers in the IT industry with the support of IT sector skills body e-skills UK, focuses on areas such as project management and how to go about designing, developing and implementing technology solutions for business - aka the skills that are vital for future IT managers and leaders.
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Several IT employers, including British Airways, BT, Ford, Fujitsu, IBM and Unilever actively support the degree - by providing input such as lectures, short courses or work placements, or attending networking events with students.
Five students at Northumbria University, one of 13 universities around the UK to offer the ITMB, have now graduated - including Christine McKibbin and Justine Broom who both gained First Class honours, along with two students who gained 2:1 classifications and one who gained a 2:2.
There are also two ITMB grads from Birmingham City University and one from Greenwich University - all of whom received First Class honours. In total, three of the eight grads are women.
McKibbin has secured a place on British Airways' IT Graduate Programme in Newcastle, to start this September; while Broom will take up a post with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, working within the procurement department.
Broom said in a statement: "The ITMB has been hard work but it has certainly paid off. I wanted to study both IT and business as I had taken both at A level and I worked with my teacher from high school to identify a suitable course. We both thought the ITMB looked ideal and both the course and the work experience element of the degree have been fantastic."
Northumbria specifically targets high achievers for its ITMB course, requiring a higher level of entry than standard computing and information systems courses. Andrew Turnbull, programme leader for the course at the university, said ITMB graduates are able to fill a crucial gap in the market.
"Employers are increasingly seeking business professionals who have a thorough knowledge of information systems and a sound grasp of technology but who also understand the business environment and can hit the ground running," he said in a statement.
Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK, said the ITMB has the active support of some 50 "prestigious" employers in the sector. "This gives students unprecedented access to a wide range of industry insights and contact - from lectures to work experience, from mentors to competitions - as well as cross-university events that bring together peers from across the country," she added in a statement.
Price said: "We are delighted to see the very first cohort of students graduate, and particularly delighted that two of the students from Northumbria have graduated with First Class honours degrees and great jobs."
Comments
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1. Osman Mughal
A great concept I agree, just what the IT industry has been looking for – people with skills that can traverse both the world of the techie and the boardroom, shaping IT solutions that deliver real business benefit. The ITMB sounds fantastic, but is not such a radical idea as it first appears. Many universities have been offering a degree/HND in Business Information Technology (BIT) for over 15 years with disciplines from both the Computer Science and Business Studies faculties. As with the ITMB, the BIT course also included IT subjects such as software development, management information systems, systems analysis and project management through to business subjects such as marketing, finance and HR. I was one of the early adopters of this course and like this new ITMB cohort I didn’t want to be pigeonholed and wanted to study both subjects. After university I didn’t fancy becoming a software developer […mainly because it wasn’t naturally gifted at it!] and consequently found my niche in business and systems analysis. Building on this skill base my career took me to management consultancy where I worked for many years, and now I work in sales – selling large IT solutions at CxO level in the public sector. So I can guarantee that this concept does work and as with BIT, the ITMB will also be as successful in developing professionals that have a holistic view of business thereby giving IT its fair share of access to the boardrooms of industry. Best of luck ITMB!