College of Business, CSU, Chico
Accredited by AACSB
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The SAP Partnership
In 1996, SAP, the world’s largest inter–enterprise software company in the world, with more than 14 million users worldwide, selected the CSU, Chico College of Business as its first partner in the SAP America University Alliance Program (SAP UAP) – a program designed to provide university faculty members throughout the world with the tools and resources they need to use technology to teach students how to integrate business processes and think strategically.
Since 1996, the SAP UAP has grown to include more than 500 campuses across the globe, providing professional development opportunities to faculty and supporting the development of course materials that are shared among member campuses. The SAP UAP also provides hosting services to member institutions, eliminating the need for costly investments in hardware. CSU, Chico serves as a hosting center for more than 90 institutions in the SAP UAP, including 55 located in the United States and Canada, and others located in Mexico, India, Italy, Spain, Columbia, Argentina, and England.
Director of Technology and Special Programs Ray Boykin, PhD, and Accounting/Management Information Systems (AMIS) Department Chair Gail Corbitt, PhD, also serve on SAP’s Americas UAP Advisory Board and lead research projects supported by SAP. The college hosts many of the professional development workshops sponsored by SAP each year, and both Boykin and Corbitt travel abroad to serve on advisory committees for SAP and provide instruction to university faculty in the use of SAP products.
SAP has had a huge impact on the college’s curriculum. Says Corbitt, “Every business student takes at least two classes that have integrated SAP.
That’s as many as 2,500 students each year. At least 100 students go on to complete advanced SAP classes in the areas of MIS, accounting, and production operations management.” The technical support for the SAP hosting site is also done by students, which gives them an incredible opportunity for hands-on experience. Consequently, CSU, Chico students are exposed to an ERP-extensive academic program that provides them with a very valuable skill set –one that has been proven to result in higher wages for students and an immediate and significant “value–add” for the employers who hire them.
The Journal of Information Systems Education (JISE), an academic, peer–reviewed IS journal that focuses on IS education, published a paper written by Corbitt and CSU, Chico Professors James Sager, James Mensching, and James Connolly which contains results of a study that tracks the marketability of CSU, Chico students graduating with an ERP-rich background. The study reveals that Chico graduates who possess extensive ERP skills command significant market value. On average, a CSU, Chico business student graduating between 1997 and 2004 was rewarded with salary offers that were roughly $5,750 higher than those tendered to their non–ERP skilled peers, providing those students with an immediate payoff after graduation.
Corbitt, Sager, and others are currently working on a research project for SAP that measures the tangible and intangible benefits that companies receive by hiring graduates of institutions who are members of the SAP UAP. Though not yet complete, empirical evidence offered to the college by recruiters from IT consulting companies, such as Bearing Point and Accenture, and very large corporations, such as Chevron, indicate that students who complete the SAP-rich curriculum at CSU, Chico make an immediate and significant impact on the companies who employ them. Associate Dean Boykin says,
“For years, the hiring practice at SAP was to hire primarily MBA’s with consulting experience. However, SAP currently recruits bachelor level graduates from Chico State with no experience, because of our program here.”
For More Information:
Dr. Jim Sager jlsager@csuchico.edu