The Master’s Program in Information Systems: A Survey of Core Curricula in AACSB-Accredited Business Schools in the United States

This paper investigates the core curricula of Information Systems (IS) master’s programs. It examines all 532 AACSB-accredited business schools in the United States and identifies 74 IS master’s programs. MSIS 2016 and other curricular models and studies are used in a research framework to survey core courses. The top three required courses are Data, Information, and Content Management, Systems Development and Deployment, and Project and Change Management. One unexpected result is that Business Intelligence/Analytics/Data Mining is now the fourth most popular core course, while Business Continuity and Information Assurance is the fifth. The results are compared to those of a 2012 study to examine IS master curricula’ change over the last decade. Based on actual data on core courses being offered, a new IS master’s curriculum model is developed