IT service management standards: education challenges

Abstract

Service management standards such as the IT infrastructure library (ITIL), and now ISO/IEC 20000, provide guidance and tools for effective management and control of IT service delivery. These standards are of increasing importance to organisations around the globe so education about these standards and possibilities for training of IT staff are important. In the main, academics and Universities have not embraced these standards in either research or education about them; however, demand for IT staff qualified to various levels in these standards grows. Universities have a place in this education process and there are significant benefits to them, the graduates and industry in terms of increases in student numbers, enhanced employment opportunities and improvement in service quality, but there are challenges also especially in relating problems in practice to students. Using results from two national surveys and several case studies, this chapter considers the requirements for education about these important standards