ERP education in China: The tale of two paths

Abstract

In the 1990s there was considerable growth in implementations of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems. Companies expected these systems to support many of the day to day business transactions. The growth in ERP implementations had a resultant impact on the demand for ERP skills. Many universities recognized this demand and the potential of using ERP Systems software as a teaching tool, and endeavoured to incorporate ERP systems into their curriculum; however most universities have struggled in this task. The ERP skill shortage has reached an all time high especially in the Asian region. ERP vendors are investigating how to best address this shortfall and the role of universities. This paper outlines two approaches to the delivery of ERP (SAP) education in China. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.