Comparing bachelor studies in business informatics at universities in Russia and Germany

Business informatics is a relatively young academic discipline. During the last years several efforts have been made to compare the German discipline Wirtschaftsinformatik with the Anglo-American sister discipline information systems. However, these studies have mainly focused on research activities; they have not attempted to compare curricula in both disciplines. With the change of the political and economic system in the former Soviet Union and the introduction of courses of studies in business informatics in Russia it may be helpful to compare the German with the Russian approach to teaching business informatics. The objective of this paper is to compare bachelor studies in business informatics at selected universities in Russia and Germany. This paper contains the outline of the history of business informatics as a scientific discipline in Russia and Germany, a description of professional organizations, standards, and guidelines relevant for business informatics in both countries. Special attention is given to an overview of students studying business informatics, a description of time scales and grading scales and the structure of teaching plans in Russia and Germany. The paper contains the explanation of the method used to analyze and compare bachelor studies at ten German and ten Russian universities. Findings of the analysis concern details of bachelor studies in business informatics at German and Russian universities and highlight similarities and differences.