The Future of Education

This paper reports on the processes and strategies followed to integrate information technologies (IT) into the accounting curriculum at a university in South Africa. The academic department implemented a new accountancy programme in 2020 that was developed to embed IT, as a key differentiating characteristic from other similar programmes on offer in South Africa. The IT integration was focused on software technologies relevant to the accounting profession and not on educational technologies. The design of this new programme was in response to the need for accounting education to adapt to ensure that workers are prepared for the workplaces of the future [1,2,3,4]. The beneficial outcomes for accounting graduates that had an IT integrated course was attested to in a 2019 impact study of the integration of IT and accounting education [2]. The first cohort of students exited the academic programme at the end of 2023, and a critical analysis will be undertaken to determine the effectiveness of the processes followed. Due to COVID-19, digital disruptions and challenges were encountered. This paper will highlight the insights and perceptions of the processes followed, to reach new heights in the integration of IT. A convergent parallel mixed method research design will be employed. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected from lecturers as they were tasked with implementing IT in their respective subjects. The findings from the interviews of the lecturers will be presented in this paper. Lessons learnt from this critical analysis are set to enhance the effectiveness of the integration of IT, thereby ensuring that the knowledge and skills of the accounting graduates keep pace with the dynamics of the finance workplace. It is imperative that digital disruptions be overcome to continue to add value to the graduate employability attributes [5].

Keywords 

Accounting education, information technology, accounting curriculum, graduate employability attributes

References

1] Rhodes, N. Rhodes, R. J. (2019). Enhancing Graduateness and Employability In Accounting Students Through the Integration of Information And Communication. Proceedings of EDULEARN 19 Conference 1^st – 3^rd July 2019. Palma, Mallorca, Spain.

[2] Rhodes, R. (2019) Evaluating the impact of integrating information and communication technologies in accounting education: a case study at the University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg: University of Johannesburg.

[3] Razali, F.A. Jusoh, M.A. Talib, S.L.A. Awang, A. (2022). The Impact of Industry 4.0 Towards Accounting Profession and Graduate’s Career Readiness: A Review of Literature. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH), 7(7),e001624. https://doi.org/10.47405/mjssh.v7i7.1624.

[4] Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Accounting Students’ Capability to Use Technology. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 247-267, https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.22.1.14.

[5] Rhodes, N. (2023) Identifying the future skills requirements to better prepare accounting graduates. Conference Proceedings of The Future of Education 13th Edition 2023.