Developing Enterprise Architecture Skills in HEI's: a Russian survey

Nowadays Bachelor and Master Students in Management usually do not acquire deep knowledges in Information Technologies, Information Systems and Software Development during their curricular if their educational program is not directly related to Business Informatics. However, industrial experience shows that working in innovative companies requires managers being able not only to manage the business processes effectively, but also initiate changes to them in order to keep the companies stay ahead. Today in digital age corporative business processes are supported by Enterprise Information Systems. Therefore the need for hard skills in Information Systems (IS) is relevant for future managers. Another question is how deep these hard skills in IT should be. This paper discusses the results of implementing the course of the Enterprise Architecture (EA) in educational process of Bachelor students in Management with focus on Industrial Management (Field of study 38.03.02. Management, Educational program "Industrial Management (Energy)") and focus on Supply Chain Management (Field of study 38.03.02. Management, Educational program "Logistics and Supply Chain Management"). Archimate, Archi and generally TOGAF methodologies assisted the students in conducting their project work on changes in company IT infrastructure or during the hands-on exercise. The study was carried out at two Russian higher educational institutions (HEI) using the quantitative survey technique and data collection. The simplified framework of EA skills constituting the competency of business stakeholders is presented. General recommendation is that EA course can be effectively included in educational process of Bachelor Students in Management in order to develop EA skills that are significant for future managers and decision makers in digital environment. The results of the study contribute to curriculum choices, teaching methods and learning objectives in current educational process of future managers.