Bridging the IS Skills Divide: A Design-Oriented Inquiry into the Alignment of IS Roles, Industry Needs, and University Curricula

The Information Systems (IS) discipline in Australia and New Zealand increasingly recognises that it must urgently reassess how it defines, develops, and aligns its program offerings. This research-in-progress paper introduces a regionally coordinated effort led by the Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems (ACPHIS) to (1) problematize the fragmented and often outdated understanding of IS roles and skills, (2) synthesize preliminary design requirements derived from diverse sources (skills frameworks and literature, industry jobs roles, and regional curricula), and (3) outline a design-oriented roadmap to develop contextualised artefacts, ranging from an IS Skills Currency Framework to IS Curriculum Design Framework, to support curriculum design and accreditation at universities. Thereby, we aim to provoke discussion within the IS community on how to effectively bridge the gap between academia and practice. This paper invites feedback on our initial framing and welcomes collaboration to ensure sustained relevance and impact for the IS discipline in the Australian and New Zealand Trans-Tasman region.