[photopress:Gina_Poole.jpg,full,alignright]IBM is developing a new Services Sciences, Management, and Engineering (SSME) curriculum in cooperation with a group of colleges and universities. Some schools are incorporating into their existing business and technology-related programs while others are adding it to new degree offerings.
Gina Poole, IBM VP of innovation and university relations, seen here, said, ‘The top 50 universities in China will develop SSME degree programs. There’s huge opportunity of innovation in services.’
She says to meet the emerging skills demand, there’s a need for degree programs that tie together a set of complex business, technology, and social skills. By 2010, it’s estimated that 6 out of 10 IT jobs will require these skills.
One could, of course, attribute this to pure altruism on the part of IBM. On the other hand, being the initiator of a new style of MBA for IT could not be said to work to its disadvantage.
Source: Information Week