Experiences in implementing IT service oriented academic programmes

New demands for Computer Science education arise in response to changing models of computing provision, in which earlier models of computing `as a product' are being superseded by models of computing `as a service'. Typical names for this shift are service-oriented computing or services computing. Both academic and industry sectors of computing are reacting to this trend in differing ways. This article provides an insight into the development of an undergraduate major in service science and a masters programme in service-oriented computing at the AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand, and an overview of the service computing offerings in the New Zealand market. We also provide an insight into the considerations that take place in developing new university programmes, the unique dialog that is part of a university programme approval process in New Zealand and the arguments our proposal received from other universities. We will also compare how these programmes relate to the proposed curriculum reference models for Service Computing. This in turn has lead to the establishment of a specialist Service Science Innovation Research group.