Management information systems students' perception of skills and competencies - towards knowledge based community

The increasing usage of Information and Communication Technologies in official borders of our business lives, starting from e-government and e-commerce applications, spreading towards our daily personal lives has made it difficult to ignore the importance of Management Information Systems (MIS). MIS, initially taught as a course in different disciplines, has now started to develop as a standalone interdisciplinary academic program in higher education. Besides curriculum standards suggestions and necessary skills and competencies for MIS education identified by academic and professional organizations, students' perceptions in these topics are also important. Thus while developing towards knowledge based community, the aim of this research is to identify MIS students' perceptions of essential skills and competencies in their educational, proffesional and personal lives. The sample group of this study are the students that are a member of social media MIS groups. The gathered quantitative data has been analyzed by an online survey. As a result, it has been evident that students find that information technical skills and competencies are crucial. The skills required for transition to knowledge based community; global working, multicultural, social responsibility, civic awareness, equal opportunity, gender and environmental awareness comes later