Information technology students’ beliefs on industry certifications

Abstract

[EN] The common challenge of Information Technology (IT) educators all over the world is to design a curriculum that is relevant to the evolving needs of the industry and society in general. One method many universities have started to use is to embed industry certifications to their curriculums. In this paper IT students´ beliefs on these certifications are analysed. The aim of the study is based on the following research question: How taking part on the certification training and exams changes students´ beliefs on industry certificates, do students value the industry certification similarly today than earlier and do students see that the industry certificates are more important in some job roles than in others. The results of the study suggest that students have realistic idea what industry certificates are and where they are needed. Although the ever-increasing popularity of industry certificates have maybe somewhat decreased their value, students still believe that they are valuable especially when entering the labour markets. Therefore, the results of the study suggest that industry certifications should have a role in higher education curriculums also in the future.