Industry-Academic Partnerships that are leading to Increased Enrollments in IT Professional Programs

In response to the declining enrollments in the IT/IS programs around the world, many institutions of higher education and concerned private and public organizations have joined together to reverse this trend. Significantly the Society of Information Management, a leading professional organization of IT executives has taken a significant lead in these efforts. Several hundred thousand dollars are currently being directed at academic initiatives that will increase the flow of IT/IS majors in the education pipeline. Many of these efforts are not widely publicized. This panel will discuss a number of these successful efforts, including: Challenge grants to academic departments, sponsorship of STEM-related technology competitions (e.g., programming, robotic, and IT engineering competitions) partnerships with industry leaders, such as Microsoft, and participation in academic advisory boards from Kindergarten through College.