Nicholls State University Teams with IBM to Prepare Students for Jobs of the Future

Last week Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, welcomed incoming and returning students. As part of the welcome events, dozens of students, administrators, local business leaders and IBM representatives attended a joint Nicholls and IBM event to discuss the new IBM-developed IT Service Management curriculum available to computer science majors and MBA students beginning this fall. The new curriculum has helped increase enrollment in the IS program by nearly 70 percent over last year.

Nicholls is a 210-acre campus approximately 50 miles southwest of New Orleans and 60 miles southeast of Baton Rouge. Nicholls is the sole provider of higher education in the region, and heavily participates in the development of the region, forging major partnerships with businesses, local school systems, community agencies, and other educational institutions. IBM worked closely with Nicholls to redefine its curriculum for the Bachelor of Science in Information Systems program with a specialization in IT Service Management.

IBM is working with more than 150 schools like Nicholls in more than 40 countries to bridge the gap between academic output and industry needs. By introducing this new curriculum, students will be prepared to work on important projects that are being funded by government stimulus plans around the world.