Abstract:

Digital transformation (DT) is already a well-known term in various industries. DT methodologies, determinants, pillar, drivers, technologies etc. are some of the keywords representing concepts in this prosperous discipline. Knowledge and skills needed to implement all these concepts into real life organizations are hard to get, since their acquirement implies an interdisciplinary approach, including business and technology related aspects. For Universities, this fact can be seen as an opportunity for developing new interdisciplinary study fields, covering knowledge and skills related to DT. DT within the curriculum implies accomplishment of learning outcomes that contribute to building individual capabilities to successfully management and improvement of business processes in the digital environment using contemporary digital technologies, manage change, and empower the innovation culture.

In this paper we select and analyze leading Universities in Europe (according to one of the existing ranking lists) which offer „Computer Science“ and „Business & Management“ related education programs and studies. The analysis is based on publicly available information, and it is performed for investigating the penetration of DT in study programs, courses and/or course contents offered by the selected Universities.

The objectives of this paper are:
(1) to explore if and to which extent DT has entered the curriculum of the selected universities (as a study program, course or content of a course);
(2) to determine whether the implementation was made on the bachelor, master or doctoral level of the study;
(3) to investigate if it covers a more technical approach or is it seen as a business-related paradigm, and
(4) to find any existing correlations between the results within the first 3 objectives and derive some insights about the lessons learned out of them.

The results of the analysis show how leading Universities have recognized DT as an emerging trend in study and research fields, which may be interesting guide for other Universities, or if DT still didn’t reach its intensive application in University curricula.

Keywords:

Digital transformation, curriculum, leading universities.