The Impact of Enterprise Resource Planning Education: A Case Study of the University of Zambia

Abstract

This paper explores the impact that ERP education has on post graduate students taking an ERP course at the University of Zambia using Sen’s capability approach. Through an interpretive case study, capabilities that are enabled by ERP education were identified. We also identified the choices and personal, social and environmental conversion factors that enabled or restricted these capabilities. The choices that impacted the capabilities were that the students were not yet looking for other jobs and they wanted to complete other studies before looking for jobs. Social conversion factors were that the ERP course content does not fit current role, ERP qualification is not valued in the workplace, ERP system is not implemented in the workplace, no role in SAP ERP system in the organisation for IT personnel, hands-on experience from labs, labs lacked an implementation aspect, and a practical local Zambikes case study. Environmental factors were that there are no jobs requiring ERP skills, employers are not aware of ERP graduates in the country and organisations look outside the country For ERP expertise. Universities integrating ERP in their curriculum can benefit from the findings of this paper as it can assist in evaluating the success of ERP education. Employers seeking to hire students with ERP skills can also benefit from this paper as it can assist them in determining how best they can benefit from skills of ERP graduates.