The need for technology management education for undergraduate programs: A conceptual framework

Abstract

As the National Research Council [17] described the technology management as “a process, which includes planning, directing, control and coordination of the development and implementation of technological capabilities to shape and accomplish the strategic and operational objectives of an organization’’, Technology Management education is becoming more important for solving problems within organizations. Therefore, institutions of higher education need to lead the way in developing programs, curriculums, departments, and institutes addressing and meeting the needs of industries and the organizations. In this paper we evaluate the need of technology management undergraduate programs and provide some insights about this need. We realize the importance of technology management in both industrial and academic contexts and how important it is to have an interaction and collaboration between the industry organizations and universities. However, there is a lack of technology education on undergraduate level at today’s universities curriculum. While there are many graduate programs on technology management in universities around the world, scholars and practitioners are paying less attention to undergraduate programs on technology management education. Therefore, we focus more on technology management education in undergraduate programs by outlining several assumptions, proposing a conceptual framework based on current debates in literature, and articulating its importance in the academic.