BISE – DISCUSSION Qualification Profile of University Professors in Business and Information Systems Engineering (BISE) DOI 10.1007/s12599-013-0252-x The Authors Prof. Dr. Peter Loos ( ) IWi at DFKI Saarland University 66123 Saarbruecken Germany loos@iwi.uni-sb.de Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Peter Mertens Prof. Dr. Torsten Eymann Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Rudy Hirschheim Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schwenker Prof. Dr. Thomas Hess Published online: 2013-02-20 This article is also available in Ger- man in print and via http://www. wirtschaftsinformatik.de: Loos P, Mertens P, Eymann T, Hirschheim R, Schwenker B, Hess T (2013) Quali- fikationsprofil für Hochschullehrer der Wirtschaftsinformatik. WIRT- SCHAFTSINFORMATIK. doi: 10.1007/ s11576-013-0352-8. © Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2013 1 Introduction The tasks of university professors include teaching, research, and university self- administration. Therefore, various skills and qualifications are necessary. Young researchers need to know which qualifi- cations are important to get a chance to become professor. In this context, publi- cations in high-ranking journals, which are rated according to different indica- tors, gain increasing importance in our scientific discipline (Loos et al. 2010). Meanwhile, there are approaches to pre- dict scientific impact based on the publi- cation record of a researcher (Acuna et al. 2012). However, other factors are also es- sential for the appointment procedure. Many job descriptions for a professor- ship in the field of BISE in the German- speaking countries mention “acquisition of external funding” as a criterion. Is this a useful criterion or is it an expression of lack of funding via the university bud- get? On the other hand, practical experi- ence in the field of industry or services, or applications with a sole industry back- ground are rarely wanted. However, for a scientific discipline the research field of which is the application of information and communication technology in busi- ness, shouldn’t practical experience be a more important criterion? Isn’t a practi- cal background also important for rele- vant research and teaching? Is the notice- able shift in the required skills set a neces- sary consequence of the establishment of our scientific discipline, or should it be a matter of concern? Therefore, the following questions have to be addressed in the discussion group: ■ What skill does a university professor in Business and Information Systems Engineering have to have? Is there a ranking of the required skills possible? ■ How important should practical expe- rience in the appointment procedures of universities be? How important is the level of acquired external funding as a criterion? ■ What are the differences between a re- quired skills set in the field of BISE and other research fields such as computer science and business economics? The following researchers have agreed to participate in this discussion (listed in alphabetical order): ■ Prof. Dr. Torsten Eymann, Universität Bayreuth ■ Prof. Dr. Thomas Hess, LMU München ■ Prof. Dr. Rudy Hirschheim, Louisiana State University ■ Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Peter Mertens, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg ■ Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schwenker, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants Peter Mertens analyzed 55 recent job postings for BISE professors in German speaking countries and compared the ob- served skills to the so-called “decathlon”- skills of a professor. He accesses that ex- cellence in teaching and knowledge trans- fer from research into business practice are of less importance in the described skill sets. Even work experience is not re- quired, despite the fact, that it would be a desirable skill in our field and in an academic environment in general. Over- all, Mertens wishes for a more balanced consideration of all the different criteria. As the ombudsman for young aca- demics of Wissenschaftliche Kommission Wirtschaftsinformatik, Torsten Eymann describes the view of junior researchers. He found out that many are insecure be- cause they fear to be solely judged by their publication record in the applica- tion procedure. Their management skills to master all the responsibilities of lead- ing a chair seem, however, to be of minor importance in an application procedure. Regarding “acquisition of external fund- ing”, Eymann recommends a balanced portfolio strategy. He concludes that a BISE skill set does not fundamentally dif- fer from a business economics skill set or a computer science skill set. Rudy Hirschheim describes the devel- opment and changes of the US-American job market for IS professors since the early 1970s as well as current issues of the local IS programs. He states that the American industry is more inter- ested in graduates of IS programs than in the results of IS research. He advo- cates the academic world and the prac- tical world to mingle more, e.g., re- searchers should work in industry during lecture-free times and people from indus- try should participate more in PhD pro- grams. Furthermore, researchers should increase efforts to acquire external fund- ing. Burkard Schwenker is of a contrary opinion. He advocates a stronger theoret- ical focus in BISE at universities. Accord- ing to him, only theory-driven teach- ing equips graduates with the neces- sary skills for the working world. Com- plex issues cannot be approached with empirical knowledge from case studies. Theory-driven teaching should be sup- plemented with a “studium fundamen- tale” and broadly-based subject-specific Business & Information Systems Engineering 2|2013 107