Australian bachelor of information technology curricula vs. employability skills: a misalignment

There is growing interest in published literature about the graduate job vs. IT education mismatch, suggesting a gap between qualification levels required, and the level acquired through higher education. The aim of this study is to understand this gap and seek to reduce such a mismatch ensuring graduates are work ready upon graduation (Støren & Aamodt, 2010). This paper presents a matrix based on the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and the information literacy learning (ILL) model to determine the effectiveness percentage of Information Technology (IT) curricula. The formation of the effectiveness matrix was gathered through interviews from IT/ Information System (IS) employers involved with recruitment, surveys from IT/IS academics, current students, and alumni, to reduce such a mismatch. We seek to progress understanding of the education-employability mismatch and improve graduate employability through examining the needs of employers, while identifying employability gaps in current IT curricula.